‘Mud, mud, (not so) glorious mud’ sums up Ealing Trailfinders 1871’s visit to St Albans' aptly named Boggymead Springs in wet and gloomy conditions, two converted tries in the first half hour of the game proving enough to secure a 12th victory in 14 outings.

With the game starting in driving rain, Ealing began strongly with a powerful early foray into the opposition 22 by outside centre Rasaan Samms, forcing a goal-line dropout. The kick was mis-hit and was collected by the Ealing forwards, who set up a ruck from which scrum half Harrison Slater fed second row Nyall Wake, who ploughed a furrow through the quagmire and the defence to finish to the right of the posts. Fly half Harry Vidler added the conversion. Neither side was able to make significant progress for the next 10 minutes, although the Saints missed a good opportunity to score by over-hitting a penalty to touch beyond the try line. With 25 minutes gone Ealing kicked a penalty to with a few yards of the St Albans line, but failed to secure ball from the ensuing line-out. However, the Ealing forwards turned over possession, and inside centre Darragh Sinnott maintained his record of scoring in every game since making his debut, defying conditions hardly conducive to running rugby by finishing under the posts, with Vidler again adding the extras. That proved to be Vidler’s last meaningful contribution as he left the field with a rib injury 5 minutes before the break, necessitating a move for Slater to fly half, flanker Gereint Price to scrum half and versatile wing Jason Dissanayake to flanker, with Kelvin Amankwaa taking Dissanayake’s place in the back line for his 1st team debut.

In part due to the disruption in their ranks, Ealing were a little flat either side of the break, and indeed spent much of the first part of the second period in their own half. Further injuries followed, with tight-head prop Laurence Troke forced off the field with a leg injury, to be replaced by Dan O’Mahony, returning to the field after making way for Pat Nash at the break, and unlucky wing Ben Pink being replaced on his return to the team by Kayci Bernard. Handling errors kept Ealing pinned back until they finally moved onto the attack courtesy of a powerful set scrum which forced a penalty. A series of pick-and-goes took the 1871 forwards to within sight of the line, but the ball was eventually turned over, and the referee, by now the only man on the field with a recognisable shirt colour, blew a merciful end to proceedings.

Saturday 21 January sees 1871 return to the 3G pitch at Vallis Way for the return fixture against mid-table Hendon, before the crucial clash with London Scottish the following week.