From the kick off, Ealing started stronger and more determined and they kept Grasshoppers totally in their own half, save for the one occasion when Grasshoppers put together about 8 attacking phases, before they lost the ball and were again pinned back in their half. A great Ealing defensive set.

Despite the tries scored in this half, there were three, possibly four left out there and this was down to some unnecessary rushing and panic, whereas simple stress-free plays would have been rewarded with points. That said, the stall was laid out from the start and Ealing did not look to be doing much less than going forward and putting Grasshoppers under pressure.
The tries, when they came, all emanated from the set piece, with the ball going wide for both of Kelvin’s scores and a bit of forward muscle, followed by a nice snipe from Petru.

The second half started as a repeat of the first, with Darragh’s try coming from the set piece after 2 minutes, where he cut through the Grasshoppers players like a hot knife though butter. At this point, the scrums were uncontested, as Grasshoppers lost their second front row player, this one due to concussion. The previous front row player having been replaced in the first half. Despite this, Grasshoppers battled on and after winning a scrum in the Ealing 22 went blind and Ealing were left wanting.

The Grasshoppers metal showed in this game, because for about 10 - 15 minutes Ealing had a two man overlap and did not utilise this advantage. Unfortunately, due to Grasshoppers suffering another concussion to a player, late in the game and were by now down to 12 players, the referee called the game.

This was agreed by both sides.

Although it wasn’t a very clean kill, it is pleasing to see that things are definitely moving in the right direction for this team, as the players are getting more and more used to each another and are growing into playing for one another.

We’ll take the win, the two on the bounce and the work-ons together and go back to fight for each other another day.

MotM: Clayton Pochop