Post by Jamie Crawford on Feb 4, 2019 9:32:38 GMT
Ealing Trailfinders preview
sponsored by Porsche Centre Sheffield (www.porschesheffield.co.uk)
Ealing Trailfinders v Doncaster Knights (www.drfc.co.uk)
Round 14, Sat 9th Feb, 2018 – 3pm @ Trailfinders Sports Club
On Saturday second-placed Ealing Trailfinders welcome the Doncaster Knights to their Trailfinders Sports Club for a second v seventh clash. The Trailfinders have won ten and lost three of their thirteen games played, the Knights have won six and lost seven of theirs.
Trailfinders lost their first game to London Irish at home, later it was Nottingham at Lady Bay, Jersey Reds at home the following game. I wouldn’t be surprised if injury or illness struck the Trailfinders camp in late October and early November to account for two of these three losses with Trailfinders record of wins. They played Nottingham in the Championship Cup Quarter-final on 2nd February and easily won 41-10, running home five tries in the process. So how did Nottingham beat Ealing 47-20 on 26th October, surely it can’t be home advantage for each team?
The other Quarter-finals were:
Jersey Reds 13-17 Cornish Pirates
London Irish 27 v 17 Coventry
Carnegie 38 v 14 Bedford Blues
The Semi-finals are scheduled to take place 22-24 February
Trailfinders v Pirates
Irish v Carnegie
…with the Final on 3-5 May.
On their respective journeys the Trailfinders have scored 421 points and conceded 326, the Knights have scored 347 and conceded 320 points. Ealing have scored the second highest number and conceded the fifth lowest number of points in the Championship. The Knights have scored the sixth highest and conceded the fourth lowest number of points. Our strong defence has only been beaten by the Irish exiles, the Reds from the Channel Islands and the Pirates from Cornwall. Trailfinders have scored 58 tries (2nd highest) and conceded 44 tries (6th fewest); the Knights have scored 45 (6th highest) and conceded 45 tries (7th fewest).
64% of Ealing’s tries have been scored by Backs and 46% of these 37 tries have been scored by the Wingers (17). The Trailfinders’ Backs have scored the most Backs’ tries in the Championship. Not to be outdone by the Wingers, the Trailfinder Centres have also scored the most tries scored by Centres in the Championship with 11 tries scored . Only Bedford Blues’ and London Scottish’s Wingers have scored more tries by Championship Wingers.
Knight Wingers have scored 11 tries and our Centres have scored 3.
Hartpury College and the Trailfinder Back Rows have scored the most tries in the Championship by this position but the Knights’ are third, just one behind.
The Trailfinders have previously conceded almost two thirds of their tries to the Backs with nearly half of these being scored by Wingers.
In Full Back/Fly Half Peter Lydon, the Trailfinder’s they have the second highest points-scorer in the Championship with 103 points scored so far this season. Lydon has a strike-rate of over 81%. Fortunately for the Knights on Saturday, his home strike-rate is not quite as good.
With nine tries scored, Winger James Cordy-Redden is the equal second highest try-scorer in the Championship and Hooker Alun Walker has scored just two tries fewer. Back Row Rayn Smidt, Centre Patrick Howard and Back Three Sebatian Stegman are only two behind Walker after scoring five tries. Centre Guy Armitage has also scored four tries (younger brother of Delon, Steffon and Bevan). I believe that four out of the six Armitage brothers play or have played professional rugby and they aren’t South Sea Islanders who seem to have an uncanny knack of playing rugby well; they are from the Caribbean.
Although the definite underdogs, the Knights will travel to the Capital in a confident mood after three consecutive wins. The Trailfinders have been very strong in attack but their defence of their try-line hasn’t been noteworthy. They have scored the second highest number of tries (58), 13 more than us but have conceded 44 tries, just one fewer than we have. The Knights have a few players back from injury and will seek to avenge the 22 – 38 defeat on 22nd September.
A recent recruit to the Knights is Sam Olver, who is on loan from Ealing. So I don’t think he can play for us against them (anyone?)
Other fixtures that could affect our seventh place in the Championship:
Nottingham (6th, 3 points above) welcome Carnegie (10th) to Lady Bay on Friday
Coventry (8th, 2 points below) host bottom team Hartpury College at their Butts Park home on Saturday
London Scottish (9th, 2 league points below) have to fly over to Stade Santander International in Jersey to play the Reds (4th) on Saturday
COYK - let’s upset the table and try to rise to the top half of the Championship, if we win and Carnegie beats Nottingham.
DONNY, DONNY, DONNY…
sponsored by Porsche Centre Sheffield (www.porschesheffield.co.uk)
Ealing Trailfinders v Doncaster Knights (www.drfc.co.uk)
Round 14, Sat 9th Feb, 2018 – 3pm @ Trailfinders Sports Club
On Saturday second-placed Ealing Trailfinders welcome the Doncaster Knights to their Trailfinders Sports Club for a second v seventh clash. The Trailfinders have won ten and lost three of their thirteen games played, the Knights have won six and lost seven of theirs.
Trailfinders lost their first game to London Irish at home, later it was Nottingham at Lady Bay, Jersey Reds at home the following game. I wouldn’t be surprised if injury or illness struck the Trailfinders camp in late October and early November to account for two of these three losses with Trailfinders record of wins. They played Nottingham in the Championship Cup Quarter-final on 2nd February and easily won 41-10, running home five tries in the process. So how did Nottingham beat Ealing 47-20 on 26th October, surely it can’t be home advantage for each team?
The other Quarter-finals were:
Jersey Reds 13-17 Cornish Pirates
London Irish 27 v 17 Coventry
Carnegie 38 v 14 Bedford Blues
The Semi-finals are scheduled to take place 22-24 February
Trailfinders v Pirates
Irish v Carnegie
…with the Final on 3-5 May.
On their respective journeys the Trailfinders have scored 421 points and conceded 326, the Knights have scored 347 and conceded 320 points. Ealing have scored the second highest number and conceded the fifth lowest number of points in the Championship. The Knights have scored the sixth highest and conceded the fourth lowest number of points. Our strong defence has only been beaten by the Irish exiles, the Reds from the Channel Islands and the Pirates from Cornwall. Trailfinders have scored 58 tries (2nd highest) and conceded 44 tries (6th fewest); the Knights have scored 45 (6th highest) and conceded 45 tries (7th fewest).
64% of Ealing’s tries have been scored by Backs and 46% of these 37 tries have been scored by the Wingers (17). The Trailfinders’ Backs have scored the most Backs’ tries in the Championship. Not to be outdone by the Wingers, the Trailfinder Centres have also scored the most tries scored by Centres in the Championship with 11 tries scored . Only Bedford Blues’ and London Scottish’s Wingers have scored more tries by Championship Wingers.
Knight Wingers have scored 11 tries and our Centres have scored 3.
Hartpury College and the Trailfinder Back Rows have scored the most tries in the Championship by this position but the Knights’ are third, just one behind.
The Trailfinders have previously conceded almost two thirds of their tries to the Backs with nearly half of these being scored by Wingers.
In Full Back/Fly Half Peter Lydon, the Trailfinder’s they have the second highest points-scorer in the Championship with 103 points scored so far this season. Lydon has a strike-rate of over 81%. Fortunately for the Knights on Saturday, his home strike-rate is not quite as good.
With nine tries scored, Winger James Cordy-Redden is the equal second highest try-scorer in the Championship and Hooker Alun Walker has scored just two tries fewer. Back Row Rayn Smidt, Centre Patrick Howard and Back Three Sebatian Stegman are only two behind Walker after scoring five tries. Centre Guy Armitage has also scored four tries (younger brother of Delon, Steffon and Bevan). I believe that four out of the six Armitage brothers play or have played professional rugby and they aren’t South Sea Islanders who seem to have an uncanny knack of playing rugby well; they are from the Caribbean.
Although the definite underdogs, the Knights will travel to the Capital in a confident mood after three consecutive wins. The Trailfinders have been very strong in attack but their defence of their try-line hasn’t been noteworthy. They have scored the second highest number of tries (58), 13 more than us but have conceded 44 tries, just one fewer than we have. The Knights have a few players back from injury and will seek to avenge the 22 – 38 defeat on 22nd September.
A recent recruit to the Knights is Sam Olver, who is on loan from Ealing. So I don’t think he can play for us against them (anyone?)
Other fixtures that could affect our seventh place in the Championship:
Nottingham (6th, 3 points above) welcome Carnegie (10th) to Lady Bay on Friday
Coventry (8th, 2 points below) host bottom team Hartpury College at their Butts Park home on Saturday
London Scottish (9th, 2 league points below) have to fly over to Stade Santander International in Jersey to play the Reds (4th) on Saturday
COYK - let’s upset the table and try to rise to the top half of the Championship, if we win and Carnegie beats Nottingham.
DONNY, DONNY, DONNY…
