Five outstanding tries, comprising a first-half brace by Jack Hobbs and a second-half hat trick by his fellow wing Josh Steadman, saw Ealing Trailfinders 1871 through to their eleventh consecutive win in Counties 1 Herts and Middlesex and lifted the team to third place in the league, tucked in behind Brunel University and Cheshunt.

Overnight temperatures down to minus 5 left the three scheduled home fixtures in doubt, and despite the bright sunshine having thawed almost all areas of the pitch, visitors Hackney felt that the surface of the section in the shade of the scoreboard tower and technical area was too hard to guarantee safety, necessitating moving the game to the older rubber-crumb 3G pitch alongside following the completion of the 3rd XV game, with the unfortunate consequence that the 2nd XV game against Finchley had to be the subject of a very late postponement.

Ealing took some time to settle against second-from-bottom Hackney, having to adjust their game to a narrower pitch, and the opening 10 minutes were even, with the visitors competing well in all facets of the game and defending stoutly whenever 1871 attacked. However, with 12 minutes gone Jack Hobbs finished with a great injection of pace after the forwards have captured turnover ball. Despite this score, Ealing continued to struggle to break the visiting defence, and the gap was reduced on 35 minutes with a simple penalty. With a minute left to the interval, 1871 attacked from clean line-out possession, Josh Steadman came close after receiving a miss pass and Hobbs, moving across from the field to the right wing, popped up to take a scoring pass, squeezing over in the corner. Harry Vidler kicked a fine conversion to leave the half-time score at 14-3.

A much-improved second-half performance saw Ealing take control, despite conceding 12 penalties and a yellow card after the break compared to Hackney’s three penalties, and Josh Steadman added his team’s third try just 3 minutes into the second period, taking the ball at pace and finishing from distance with a superb angled run. With a quarter of the game to go Steadman was on the score sheet again, avoiding being forced into touch thanks to the blistering pace of his run, and securing the try bonus point in the process. Vidler again converted from the touch line, for his fourth successful kick of the day. Hackney soon afterwards forced their way over though their forwards to breach the league’s second-meanest defence. The only score of the final quarter was Josh Steadman’s third of the day, coming into the line at pace and accelerating away.

The coaching team were pleased with the response to their call for clinical execution in the second period after what was described as a ‘Christmas pud’ of a first half. Man of the match had to go to one of the wings, and Hobbs got the nod for a fine all-round performance.

Saturday 18 January sees 1871 lock horns with Brunel University once again, following an outstanding win against the current league leaders earlier in the season. It promises to be a titanic battle of skills, effort and wits.