Week 21 Fixtures

Another Ealing fan here wanting to say congratulations to Jersey for a thoroughly deserved win, which should have been by more but for some outstanding defence on the goal line! I’m currently recovering after a brilliant evening in The Lamplighter back in St Helier! Was great to see such a big and enthusiastic crowd, with a lot of noise created by both sets of fans! Took a while to dry off after the second half soaking…

3720 watching the game at Coventry yesterday as well.  Brilliant atmosphere, loads of noise, slow service at the bars afterwards not helped by wifi dropping out which scuppers the new card payment systems.

Great to see big crowds at these games. Coventry getting that many is brilliant for a game, as Kimbo says, that had nothing on it. We had over 1500 at The Pirates on a wet and chilly day, which was lovely to see as we've not had a great season with a young and inexperienced squad. Looking forward to May 5th (which happens to be my birthday!) when we host Jersey in the semi-final of the cup. I expect the Mennaye will be jumping on that evening!

Happy St. George’s day everyone.
Happy Birthday CC

Ealing Exile wrote: Another Ealing fan here wanting to say congratulations to Jersey for a thoroughly deserved win, which should have been by more but for some outstanding defence on the goal line! I’m currently recovering after a brilliant evening in The Lamplighter back in St Helier! Was great to see such a big and enthusiastic crowd, with a lot of noise created by both sets of fans! Took a while to dry off after the second half soaking…

Thanks EE. It takes two teams to make a gripping game and Ealing left it all on the pitch yesterday. A shout out to the Ealing 10 who took the banter dished out to him in good spirits. He even asked if we had a pint as he was gasping for a drink, but settled for the water that we offered him.
The rain probably suited Jersey better, but it did cost us a score as the ball slipped out as we were about to go over to score. Cracking afternoons entertainment.

Congratulations to Jersey, commiserations to Ealing. Two very strong teams who have made the fight for the title, if not promotion, a very worthwhile competition.

Edited by castleparknight - 23 Apr 2023 at 13:39

Brilliant coverage on the RFU streams - particularly top class performance from Tim & Tom who stepped up to the plate for the game at St Peter when the commentary first team were covering the game at the RAG. I thought the match officials were exceptional and if they missed anything I didn't see it. No cards of any colour in a game like with such a lot resting on it was brilliant. The disallowed "try" in the second half was clearly correct for crossing and when it boiled up briefly in the second half the whole team defused the situation without fuss. Three thousand watched it live and in a monsoon in the second half the atmosphere from both sets of fans was great. Did the game get a mention on Rugby tonight?

gerg_861 wrote: The one thing that I'm taking away from this game, and the second half of the season in general for Ealing is that they desperately need a top tier head coach. When Jonathan Thomas left for Wales just after the Christmas game with Jersey I immediately saw a change for the worse in selection policy and match day performance. For example, up until the time that JT left, Ealing had given up ZERO rolling maul tries, and they've given up loads since. Ben Ward is Ealing through and through, and I've enjoyed chatting with him on several occassions, but given the quality of the squads that he has had, I don't feel like he's succeeded in crafting those players into something that is greater than the sum of its parts, whereas Harvey Biljon seems to have achieved that consistently.

gerg_861 wrote: The one thing that I'm taking away from this game, and the second half of the season in general for Ealing is that they desperately need a top tier head coach. When Jonathan Thomas left for Wales just after the Christmas game with Jersey I immediately saw a change for the worse in selection policy and match day performance. For example, up until the time that JT left, Ealing had given up ZERO rolling maul tries, and they've given up loads since. Ben Ward is Ealing through and through, and I've enjoyed chatting with him on several occassions, but given the quality of the squads that he has had, I don't feel like he's succeeded in crafting those players into something that is greater than the sum of its parts, whereas Harvey Biljon seems to have achieved that consistently.

This seems amazingly harsh mate. Ealing will finish the season with close to 100 points out of an absolute maximum of 110 and IF Jersey pip them next Saturday it is likely to be by the narrowest of margins. Ben Ward has assembled a brilliant squad of players and over the last dozen or so years has gained experience from every set back. Years ago he tried to pull all the strings himself but over time has added real quality technical coaches which make the Ealing squad formidable. He will look at this season and probably conclude that he rested too many first choice players away at Caldy in the mud and came up against a seriously powerful Jersey pack who might trouble a few teams at a higher level. Ealing will be an even more formidable squad next season under Ben Ward with the experience gained.