It’s Burns Night for Ealing not Scottish as they blaze to derby win over Exiles

London Scottish 26 : 42 Ealing Tralfinders

On the eve of January 25th where Scots around the world celebrate Burns Night in honour of their national poet Rabbie Burns, it was not a Scot but another Burns who made his mark with a piece of rugby poetry.

Englishman Jordan Burns was among the stars as Ealing won this enthralling London derby delivering the pass of the night just after half time for Tommy Bell to score the try of the night. That try altered the trajectory of the game after a close first half that ended with Ealing ahead by just two points, 16-14.

The visitors never looked back and dominated the scoring in the second half to win comfortably and it has to be said, deservedly.

Craig Willis converted an early penalty and that was a sign of matters to come. Ealing’s superior discipline dominated the first half and their decision making was superb. Willis doubled the score with a second penalty in the 19th minute, a lead the visitors well deserved.

Josh Barton touched down though on 24 in Scottish’s first attack and Harry Sheppard converted to totally overturn the game. Suddenly the better side were behind, and we had a game.

Three minutes before half time, Willis scored Ealing’s third penalty but the big moment of the half was seconds away. Bobby Beattie scored a very good team try for the Scots under the posts and Sheppard converted for a hardly believable 14-9 lead. But Ealing hit back immediately and Jordan Els scored a forward’s try which Willis converted to give Ealing a 16-14 half time lead.

There was general disbelief among the Ealing fans as to the slenderness of their lead and the orange shirted 15 came out after the break with a fire in their belly.

Tommy Bell was the try scorer after a superb move on 44 that involved a perfect feeder pass from Jordan Burns. A second score followed after a forward roll that seemed to take an eternity to result in a try by Els that ended in a 30-14 and unsurpassable lead.

Sam Dickinson went over for Ealing’s fourth try after forward pressure which had now bordered on the relentless, giving Ealing 19 unanswered second half points.

Mark Bright scored the try of the match for the Scots on 69′ to reduce the lead to 35-19 and give the home crowd some joy. Reon Joseph added his name to the Ealing try scorers on 77′ and Willis took the score 42-19. Craig Duncan scored an unconverted consolation for Scottish.

Ealing had a mid first half scare but outside of that were the better side throughout and the score didn’t flatter them. Their fans left buoyant after their third straight win.

Team Lineups:

London Scottish:

15. Luke Hibberd, 14. Rob Stevenson, 13. Bobby Beattie, 12. Dan Barnes, 11. Craig Duncan, 10. Harry Sheppard, 9. Josh Barton, 1 Ryan Eveliegh, 2. James Malcolm, 3. Kyle Whyte, 4. Alex Toolis, 5. Matas Jurevicus, 6. Luke Frost, 7. Lewis Wynne ©, 8. Matt Eliet

Replacements: 16. Billy Harding, 17. Lewis Holsey, 18. Phil Cringle, 19. Nodar Cheishvili, 20. Mark Bright, 21. Rory Brand, 22. Will Magie, 23. Ollie Allsopp

Ealing Trailfinders:

15 Tommy Bell 14 Elijah Niko 13 Lewis Jones 12 Pat Howard 11 Reon Joseph 10 Craig Willis 9 Jordan Burns 1 Jordan Els 2 Alun Walker 3 Elliot Millar Mills 4 Sam Dickinson 5 James Cannon 6 Kieran Murphy 7 Jordy Reid 8 Rayn Smid ©

Replacements:

16 Matt Cornish 17 Jake Ellwood 18 George Davis 19 Ben West 20 Adam Korczyk 21 Nathan Fowles 22 Steven Shingler 23 Shane Buckley