Ealing Trailfinders Jades Win League

Ealing Jades demolish Bracknell and claim the title

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Top of the league Ealing Jades approached bottom placed Bracknell Maids with caution when facing them for the first time this season. On paper Bracknell appeared to be no threat, but the Jades knew this was a crunch match for both teams. If the Jades won they took the league, but for Bracknell this game was their last chance to avoid relegation.

Bracknell were to prove heavy opposition, making the Jades sweat and bleed for every inch of ground won and every try scored. The sizeable 44-7 victory does not reflect the punishing effort put in by underdogs Bracknell.

Early in the game a well timed intercept from experienced centre Captain Zoe Deeks followed by powerful running gave the first try under the posts and the first of only two conversions that day. This bit of individual brilliance raised the whole team game, giving them the desire to resist the intimidating Bracknell pack long enough to allow their backs room to work their magic.

A surprise run from prop Caroline Pinney was next to catch Bracknells defence off guard, her perfectly timed pass to winger Tania Oddi utilising the overlap for a sneaky try in the corner. Bracknell retaliated, driving up the pitch with a series of scrums and penalties, battering the Jades defence into disarray until they offered no resistance to the Bracknell full back Sarah Webber.

Fellow antipodean Ari Lambert had a tough act to follow replacing regular fly half Alexia Skipper. Skipper has taken temporary leave from her duties to get married in New Zealand. Lambert was quick to find her own rhythm. Determined not to be caught too close to their own line again she began to make better use of the wind, kicking for ground at every opportunity. The Jades had a fast light aggressive line out that Bracknell could not match so it was no surprise when jumper Katie Ireland began to win more and more Bracknell ball, No 8 Stacey Gander using one such turn over to sprint up the wing for another corner try.

With Lambert continuing to win ground the tries were bound to come. The Jades were to claim two more before half time, one from nimble footed scrum half Victoire Binchet who easily out manoeuvred her less agile opposite number to break from the back of a ruck, and the other from a well worked penalty, set up by Gander and landed under the posts by Pinney for another easy conversion.

Second half, and despite the wind now being against them the Jades were feeling confident. Expecting to have slowed Bracknell down with a fast first half they were surprised however to discover that the effort had drained them also. Bracknell were not shy of using the wind advantage to pin the Jades back in their own half, and as a result the try count plummeted.

Punishing rucks and mauls continued, but eventually the Jades forwards did begin to get the upper hand. Heavily outweighed in the scum it had been difficult to get good ball, but with the Bracknell pack fading slowly they began to loose more and more of their own ball here as well as at line out. Deeks continued to punch holes in the Bracknell defence but they remained organised enough to frustrate repeated attempts to sprint the ball up the wing.

Despite this it was the Jades backs who were to claim all the glory in the last half. Deeks first setting up a try for Binchet, then claiming another for herself. The last points of the day going to winger Nicola Inson, frustrated in her first attempt with her try held up she made sure of the grounding in her second determined run.

Both sides retreated from the pitch battered, bruised and exhausted, but the Jades were jubilant as the win also gifts them the league with a game still in hand.

Ealing's first XV had a week off which gave them good preparation time for their trip to already-relegated Guildford on Saturday. There they must make inroads into the points gap between them and second-place Worthing to gain a play-off place, and a chance of promotion.

Final score 44-7

Tries :- Zoe Deeks 2, Tania Oddi, Stacey Gander, Victoire Binche 2, Caroline Pinney & Nicola Inson

Conversions :- Zoe Deeks 2

Forward of the match - Katie Ireland

Back of the match - Ari Lambert

Pictures: Fenton Willis

Report: Caroline Pinney

March 29, 2007