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London Scottish

The Championship

15 Dec 2024 | 4 min |

Round 8 Round-up

Catch up on the weekend's action in The Championship.

Ealing Trailfinders powered to the top of the Championship with an emphatic 95-7 victory over Cambridge. The defending champions were in ruthless form in West London, running in 15 tries to take full advantage of Coventry’s 46-14 defeat away at Cornish Pirates. Nottingham kept pace with a 19-15 win over Chinnor on Friday night, and Doncaster Knights got past Caldy 22-0. The weekend rounded off with Bedford Blues edging out London Scottish 22-20, while Ampthill versus Hartpury was abandoned following an injury to referee Alex Thomas.
Trailfinders return to summit
 
Ealing Trailfinders produced a performance to remember as they put 95 past Cambridge to head to the top of the table. The hosts scored 15 tries in all, with Matt Cornish requiring less than 60 seconds to get his first of two for the afternoon. David Bridge got his side’s second just a few minutes later to put the Londoners in control early on, and they continued in that vein to head into the break 55 points ahead.
 
Cambridge fought back in the second half, with Eli Cavan grabbing their only try, but Trailfinders continued to dominate and Cornish, Tobi Wilson, Ben Harries and Cam Terry all finished the afternoon with two tries each. 
 
Trailfinders Director of Rugby Ben Ward said: “We did lots of little things really well and did them consistently.
 
“I thought our bench made a really good impact and we kept going for 80 minutes.
 
“It is always one of those strange games and you have to give credit to Cambridge, in tough circumstances they kept going.
 
“Throughout the squad there were really good performances. We will still be as detailed as ever when we pick it apart but it can only say good things about the depth that we have got.”
 
Pirates put Coventry to the sword
 
Cornish Pirates dented Coventry’s title hopes with a 46-14 victory in Penzance. Pirates produced a blistering first half, running in four tries to seal a bonus point before the break and seize control of proceedings. Charlie Rice opened the scoring after a quarter of an hour, and he was followed by Will Gibson and a double from Matt McNab before Ryan Hutler got Coventry on the board just before half time.
 
Martin Moloney then extended Pirates’ lead after the break and late tries from Cam Jones and Sol Moody rounded off a day to remember for the hosts in Cornwall. A first defeat of the season for Coventry sees them drop to second behind Ealing Trailfinders.
Knights keep out Caldy
 
Doncaster Knights earned a 22-0 win over Caldy to keep up the chase of the top two in the Championship. The hosts took just three minutes to cross the whitewash, as Jordan Olowofela scored the opening try after collecting Russell Bennett’s cross-field kick.
 
Thom Smith then added another just over 10 minutes later, and Bennett crossed himself for a third before the break.
The fly-half added three more from a penalty before half time to put Doncaster 22-0 ahead at the break and the hosts saw out a scoreless second half to ensure victory.
 
Nottingham get win under the lights
 
Nottingham earned a hard-fought 19-15 win over Chinnor under the Friday night lights. There was little to choose between the two sides at the break, with just a sole Chinnor penalty from George Worboys putting the visitors 3-0 ahead. The hosts hit back immediately after the restart, Jack Dickinson powering over after a maul and a second followed 10 minutes later through Sam Williams.
 
Lewis Chessum then stretched the lead to 19-3 on the hour before Chinnor fought back with two late tries from Morgan Passman and Grant Hughes but it was not enough to complete the comeback.
 
Blues edge out Scottish
 
Bedford Blues earned a dramatic 22-20 win away at London Scottish to sit third in the table, six points behind new leaders Ealing. Will Maisey’s last-minute penalty proved the difference between the two sides in a hard-fought contest in the capital, as the visitors fought back from 20-5 behind to steal victory. Scottish ran into a 17-0 lead in the first half, as tries from Sean Kerr and Austin Wallis put the hosts ahead alongside the boot of Alec Lloyd-Seed.
 
John Stewart went over for Blues just before the break, and that score proved pivotal in sparking a fightback from the visitors.
Lloyd-Seed added another three from the tee after the break but the Blues responded late with tries from Oisin Heffernan and Joe Howard, before Maisey slotted the decisive three points at the death.