Ben Wards Playing record. ( according to STATBUNKER )

He was at Esher before he went to Ealing and we were sorry to see him go although at that age he couldn’t holD down a 1st XV slot. I think he has done a brilliant job at Ealing, particularly his selection of coaches (with the possible exception of Alex Codling) which has been key to Ealing’s success. I see no reason with he can’t emulate Rob Baxter. Good luck to him!

I think the half way mark is the wrong time to consider this but my own thoughts are:

Bluesman11 wrote: I appreciate Ben Ward is an Ealing legend and admire the loyalty to him, but I think that can sometimes lead to being blinkered. I’m absolutely confident they would still be where they are without him and that is not down to him, but down to Mike Gooley.  The difficult thing is it’s hard really to assess how well he’s done as a coach. He’s achieved the absolute bare minimum you would expect him to by consistently finishing 2nd. If any of those seasons they had finished top (or made a serious challenge) there would be scope for saying he’s done a good job. If any of those years they’d finished 3rd, he would probably be in the firing line. So his performance review is really just “met expectations”. I really think near enough anyone remotely qualified could’ve finished 2nd with the resources at their disposal relative to the rest of the league at Ealing. This year was the first year there’s been serious pressure. The whole format has been set up to promote them and they should be making a statement and blowing away the opposition. I fully expect them to still finish top, but the fact they have lost twice already and let Pirates and Jersey be serious contenders doesn’t constitute much praise imo. You can forgive one loss (terrible conditions, opponents play a blinder), but there is really no excuse for them to be losing any more than that. When you look at what Cattle/Paves achieve at Pirates I think you’d be hard pushed to argue that they couldn’t have done more with Ealing’s resources

Ben's enthusiasm and commitment to the club can't be questioned. I have seen a lot of growth over the past couple of years. In particular I used to see Ealing go into the half with a big lead, and then the opposition would come storming back after the half time. Now, for example at Richmond, you can see that Ealing is also able to make half-time changes to their benefit.

I have seen Ben at work on and off the pitch for nearly 20 years. In a game like ours maintaining performance over two decades is pretty tough and Ben has had more success than most as a player and a coach. Winning is always a team effort and if we were to look at his stats with Ealing I am pretty sure that what we’d see is right up there with the very best.

Now cynics might say it is easy when you have the money, but anyone with any experience should realise that it isn’t having the money that is important it is what you do with it. Luck will play a part of course and don’t forget with all this talk of coming second that the clubs that won were those relegated from the premiership with fully pro squads and parachute payments to boot. It’s never even been close to being a balanced continuum from the championship to the premiership.

MG is a great asset to the club no doubt, but his support has been based on his relationship with Ben and the broader management team. In the years that I was directly involved the quality of this was outstanding with smart committed people working together to build their club. BW was an important contributor, perhaps at times critical, but the point is the management team of the club top notch. This is based on not just on First Team performance, but the evolution of the club from Sudbury to the Championship. Maybe beyond. Obviously, many tough decisions had to be taken and no one gets it 100% right, but the energy and belief transformed the Ealing Club into a great local club with Trailfinders playing a critical role as a important partner. Ben was pivotal to this as were a few others.

Whether BW is upto the premiership is the wrong question in my mind, a better one is how will the club manage if it makes it to the premiership. In some ways it is a contest for the soul of the game. Can smaller clubs get to the very top and importantly stay there! If we can then so can others and perhaps this will convince some folks that ring fencing is a terrible idea for the game.

Finally, Ben is a great example of what a club man can do with a lot of work and effort. Anyone that has followed Ealing will have seen a lot of exciting rugby with sometimes a few mistakes Horne of a passion to play and play to win.

While I don’t doubt bolstering the coaching team will be necessary Ben has earned the right to take Ealing to the next level.

kempstonblue wrote: Good luck to Ealing the eyes of the Rugby World might be focusing on you a lot next season.

For all the right reasons I hope.

I don't want too count any chickens yet though as there are teams that can and may beat us over the coming months, but hopefully we'll pull it off.   Visit to Bath next season would be something wonderful to look forward to.

QUOTE: for a side that has everything...........Except a 10, 000 seating capacity