Interception proves Ealing’s undoing in high-quality encounter

Ealing 1871 entertained local rivals London Scottish Lions in a top-four clash that thoroughly justified the large attendance, boosted by the cancellation of the Championship clash between Ealing Trailfinders and London Scottish due to COVID cases in the Scottish camp. High quality was on show throughout a game that was considerably closer than the final scoreline suggests, with Ealing shading the possession and territory statistics but not managing to deal the killer blow at key moments.

Fielding one of their strongest squads of the season with a welcome return for flanker Will Day after a long lay-off with a wrist injury and a debut for recent recruit Matt Healey on the wing, 1871 started brightly, forcing a knock-on from the kick-off and moving forward at the early set scrums. Scottish went offside at one such scrum, and fly half Callum Nolan-Hutchinson opened the scoring with a neatly struck penalty into a slight breeze from 35 metres. Ealing continued to look the stronger of the two sides and came close to scoring a try in the corner with a powerful run by Healey. Scottish started to apply pressure of their own around the 20-minute mark and forced penalties, but lost possession from the first by over-hitting the kick for touch and then scuffed an attempt at goal. Despite predictions of a high-scoring game between the league’s top home scorers and top away scorers, the first half-hour yielded just 3 points as both defences held firm. Nolan-Hutchinson’s attempt to double the lead narrowly failed, before Scottish mounted an attack in the left-hand corner on the cusp of half-time. After pummelling the line, their forwards forced their way over to leave the half-time score at 5-3 to the visitors.

The second period brought no let-up in the quality of the game, which would have been worthy of one or two levels higher. Eight minutes into the half Ealing were penalised at a scrum under their own posts, giving Scottish a simple 3 points to increase their slender lead. Nolan-Hutchinson again narrowly failed to notch a second penalty with a kick that shaved the outside of the upright. Ealing No 8 Oscar Avis, who had shown great physicality throughout, went off the field with an injury caused by a high tackle, and from the ensuing penalty 1871 kicked for a line-out deep in Scottish territory, second-row Nyall Wake won clean ball, a maul took the ball close to the line and replacement scrum half Euan Jones forced his way past the defence wide on the left. The visitors then built momentum of their own and eventually scored when a slightly fortuitous bounce from a somewhat speculative kick forced a penalty close to the Ealing line, from which a Scottish forward crossed for a well-converted try with 8 minutes to go.

The match swung back the other way, with Ealing looking a good bet to score the equaliser their performance merited, but a crucial interception by Scottish fly half Angus Clogg, who outpaced the despairing chasers, finished the contest. The jubilation in the Scottish camp when the final whistle sounded gave a clear indication of how relieved they were to emerge with a win from a fine, close game. Ealing were left to rue their low chance conversion rate, but will be much encouraged for the remaining H&M1 matches.

League action resumes in two weeks, with a visit to Kilburn Cosmos on 12 February.