In their first slice of Papa Johns Community Cup action, Ealing Trailfinders 1871 produced a ruthless display against mid-table Counties 2 Essex side Millwall, amassing 14 tries. Fly half Harry Vidler added two tries and 11 conversions to his tally for the season, while flanker Gereint Price bagged a hat-trick.

Grateful for a relatively convenient away trip to the Isle of Dogs rather than having to travel further afield in a competition covering the whole of southern England, Ealing took on a team the club had never previously faced, founded as recently as 1995. The council-owned pitch was in surprisingly good condition after torrential rain the previous day and earlier in the week, with only a couple of puddles to show for the downpours. There was an extended delay immediately after Millwall kicked off due to an injury to Price, which subsequent events showed to have done him no lasting harm. For the first few minutes it was the home side who did the attacking, but the 1871 defence stood firm, and after 7 minutes at a scrum awarded to Ealing for a forward pass Jason Dissanayake at No 8 picked up and stormed upfield. A well-timed pass put scrum half Kyle Beck in under the posts. Just 2 minutes later, Millwall, for the first of many times during the course of the afternoon, made the mistake to booting downfield towards Josh Steadman, on this occasion playing at full back. Steadman set off a trademark mazy run before offloading to 2nd row Matt Donnelly, who made further ground before delivering a scoring pass to Price. Playing with confidence and freedom, Ealing added a third try with a quarter of the game gone when Josh Steadman fielded another ill-directed kick, side-stepped a chasing Millwall player and provided Kavan Fitzpatrick, starting on the wing in place of the indisposed Danny O’Sullivan, with an easy run-in.

With 22 minutes gone a big hit by Reggie Elliott-Jones on the opposite wing set 1871 up for another attack. Scum half Kyle Beck launched a teasing kick that caused all the chaos in defence it was designed to, and was on hand to apply pressure to the ball as it rolled across the try line. The flow of tries continued with another strong run by Dissanayake and further aggressive running by Fitzpatrick, whose inside pass set up Price for his second try of the day. With all five tries converted by Vidler, Ealing were already 35-0 to the good with less than 30 minutes played. A sixth touchdown followed from a stolen lineout, a lightning-fast break by Kyle Beck and a perfectly timed pass to centre Afzaal Ijaz. With 36 minutes gone Josh Steadman set off on another searing run from deep and passed inside to Vidler, who held on at the second attempt and then converted his own try, the seventh successful kick out of seven attempts. Ealing reached a massive 56-0 halt-time lead when yet another unwise kick to Josh Steadman gave him space to launch an attack. Fitzpatrick and prop Tim Hitchcock provided the links, the ball was recycled and Hitchcock finished.

Coach Mark Percival asked for more of the outstanding tempo shown in the first period from the restart, and within seconds Hitchcock made hard yards, the ball was swung right and Fitzpatrick stretched to the line for his second of the day. With Eddie Beck joining his son Kyle on the field, and Ian Kilcoyne on to replace compatriot Dan O’Mahony, there was no let-up in intensity. Lewis Steadman collected a kick on the right wing, passed to brother Josh, received a return pass and fed Price for the latter’s third score. With 30 minutes still to go in the game neat inter-passing put Vidler in space wide on the right for a straight run to the line. Despite the massive deficit the Millwall players’ heads never dropped, and it was slightly against the run of play when an interception in defence eventually led to a try with a diving finish for Lewis Steadman in the left-hand corner. Soon afterwards Dissanayake finished off a fine team effort. The restart was low and fell short of the 10 metre line. The referee waved advantage as Donnelly gathered and sprinted 60 metres to the try line. Millwall then enjoyed their best spell of the game, spurning two opportunities to put points on the board with penalties but failing to break through the resolute 1871 defence, despite having a numerical advantage for the last few minutes due to a yellow card.

A week’s rest for Easter will be followed by the 2nd round of the Papa Johns Counties 2 Plate competition and the North West Middlesex Floodlit Cup final against Ruislip a few days later.

Match report here