Ealing Trailfinders 1871 maintained their rich vein of form with eight tries against mid-table Hitchin, and made light of having to play the last 20 minutes of the game with 14 men. It marked their seventh win on the bounce after a solitary defeat against current league leaders Finchley.

Ealing tore into the opposition from the kick-off and could have scored within the first minute if the referee had not called them back for a penalty rather than allowing advantage with Kyle Beck poised for a race to the line. They moved to within striking distance but knocked on with the line begging. However, the first of three strikes against the head during the course of the game put them back in possession, prop Akeem Eubank-Anderson came close to scoring and with the Hitchin defence in disarray quick recycling gave outside centre Lewis Steadman all the space he needed close to the right-hand touchline. A couple of minutes later Josh Steadman, playing at full back, sniffed an opportunity and set off on a searing run, finishing in almost the spot as his brother. Harrison Slater converted both tries well to put his team 14-0 ahead. Ealing continued to dominate, denying the Hertfordshire visitors any meaningful possession with speed to the breakdown, and the inevitable third try came around the quarter mark, perhaps the best of the day. Hitchin kicked the ball aimlessly downfield from a scrum under pressure, Beck fielded and passed to Josh Steadman, who weaved his way at pace through the despairing defence before linking up with inside centre Ryan Conyard, who set up hooker Luke Parry wide on the left. Parry kept the last defender guessing which he was going, then turned on the afterburners and dived over. The visitors finally mounted an attack from clean line-out possession and when a maul collapsed the referee deemed prop Tim Hitchcock to be at fault and issued a yellow card. From the resultant penalty Hitchin went over in the corner for what was to prove their only score. Within 4 minutes a rock-solid scrum 5 metres from the Hitchin line created a platform for a textbook backs move with Josh Steadman finishing in the corner for his second of the day.

With Hitchin themselves down to 14 men with a yellow card for a high tackle at the start of the second period, 1871 continued to play a fast-paced game and forced a penalty on the Hitchin 22-metre line. Scrum-half Richard Rhydderch-Roberts took a quick tap and accelerated untouched to the try line to add to his tally for the season. Just three minutes later debutant Alex Tarrant, on as a replacement on the right wing, provided flanker Gereint Price with a scoring pass. Thirteen minutes into the second period Hitchcock was issued with a second yellow card and therefore red for pulling an opposition player to the ground after the ball had gone. With numbers briefly even due to a Hitchin player being sent to the sin bin for back-chat, Tarrant scored his first try for 1871, taking a pass from Slater after the visitors had once again kicked possession away under pressure. The eighth and last try of the day, six of which were converted by Slater, was again scored by Tarrant. Akeem-Anderson punched a hole in the defence from what initially looked scrappy ball, Rhydderch-Roberts collected from the breakdown and Tarrant popped up on his shoulder to finish. The game finished a few minutes early due to a painful shoulder injury to one of the Hitchin players.

Coach Phil Smith was pleased with the fluid play his team had displayed and with the way they had moved the ball. While all 18 players made valuable contributions to a fine all-round performance, Price was named man of the match for his work in the loose and in the line-out.