Ealing Trailfinders could not be further away from Downhills Park. Sure, it’s on the wrong side of London, but the real differences start on arrival. A barrier, guardhouse, and 6 security guards block your way in; once past these, you pass a grandstand, the first clubhouse (high ceilings, with floor to ceiling glass walls), gym and car park, the second clubhouse (think glorious cricket pavilion, bar and balcony for watching games), 2 more rugby pitches and then finally the 3rd set of changing rooms, still 4x the size of Downhills.

Have we mentioned that we’re fundraising to grow our single shed and container? https://www.gofundme.com/f/Finsbury-Park-Rugby If you enjoy this you should donate.

But it turns out amateur 2nd and 3rd team rugby is pretty similar no matter how fancy your clubhouse: We’ve got a mix of young blood and boys returning after a 5 year hiatus, we both had to bring down a prop from a higher team to get a full front row out, and despite all the groundsmen, the pitch was somehow still wet, muddy, and covered in sand.

So here’s the game plan: it's wet, the ball is inexplicably sandy, there’s going to be a lot of knock ons, and all their good runners are forwards, so we're going to kick, and scrummage, and then kick again.

From the off, Finsbury dominated the scrum. Buckley, Musson, Stevens, Monk, and Graham, supported by Micklethwait, Murray and Smith made mincemeat of the Trailfinders pack all game.

15 minutes in, 0-0 score and a knock on on half way lead to a Finsbury scrum and that lead to a scrum penalty. MacDuff took it quickly, and dropped a beautiful cross field kick behind the Ealing winger. He spilled it even further backwards, allowing Birkett to snaffle it up on the 22 before being brought down 10 yards out. Some lovely structure from the Fins forwards with a Red, then Murray Rhino, Musson Rhino and we were right on the line. Unstoppable try machine Paul Smith took one final leap over 3 Ealing defenders to put the ball down over the Ealing try line. MacDuff added the 2.

Not 5 minutes later and a near perfect repeat of the action for any spectators who missed it. This time it was a beautiful burgundy line from Birkett, inches from being forward, the tight pass allowed him to break through the Ealing line before being tackled 5 yards shy by a very strong fullback. But you know the drill. Buckley rhino, Murray Rhino, and Smith scored again.
MacDuff added the 2.

I don’t know if we got cocky here, or Ealing found their feet, but a number of strong home side runners started to pick their heads up. All 3 back row were breaking through tackles, off 9, off 10, making 10-20 yards over and over before being brought down by Finsbury scramble defence. Eventually this bore fruit and they managed two tries barrelling over from 5 yards out.

Izzy turned up a mere 25 minutes after the game started and came on for his first appearance in 5 years, unfortunately with Buckley off with an injured hamstring it wasn’t going to be the “last 5 minutes of each half” he was promised.

Half time and it’s 14-10. Painter came back to his roots in the forwards to practise his scrummaging after 3 years on the wing.

40 minutes of intense rugby followed. Long kicks from both the Ealing 15 and the Finsbury backline forced both teams to try attacking out of their own halves. After a tough start to the season, you could tell that the Fins wanted their 4th 2nd team win in a row. Knock ons and penalties for both sides lead to a stop and start game. Neither team managed to break through the others line.

5 minutes to go. With a beautiful set up, commanding his backs, George "I think I kicked more than I passed this game" MacDuff put a high ball up to test their young winger. A huge chase from Gargan, Kieran and Champion ended with Champion slicing through their wingers torso, forcing a knock on, giving us a scrum and you know the game is ours.

It should be ours.

Probably.

But Finsbury do like to make the last minutes exciting.

2 minutes to go. Finsbury get another scrum penalty on the Ealing 22, just outside the posts, MacDuff was lucky there was no televised shot clock as he took the slowest kick for goal you’ve ever seen to guarantee the game 17-10. But he missed, and Ealing got a 22 dropout to force Finsbury to have that classic final minute scramble where we must hold the ball. A single knock on would mean losing the ball, a penalty could mean 50 yards of territory and the game.

Gargan caught the drop out and brought it to the midfield, where 8 exhausted forwards bashed their heads into a Trailfinders wall with pods and pick-and-gos to drown out the final seconds. Finally the ref called time and we managed to bundle the ball out to touch.

If you’ve enjoyed this, I would love if you could donate even a couple of quid to https://www.gofundme.com/f/Finsbury-Park-Rugby as we try to make our rugby club a more inclusive space.

Tries Paul Smith (2)
Convs George MacDuff (2)
MoM Charlie Stevens
DotD George Macduff