1871 fail to penetrate league pacesetters Barnet defence

Barnet Elizabethans, top of the league at the start of play and with a remarkable defensive record of having conceded only 37 points in their first seven games, showed exactly why by repelling everything Ealing could throw at them in the first half of an encounter played in brutal conditions brought by Storm Arwen. With chances at a premium and the heavy conditions precluding running rugby, the two teams ran inside for half-time respite with no score on the board, after a narrowly missed penalty attempt by the visitors mid-way through the period. Havng won a number of line-out steals through second-rows Alex Miller and Nyall Wake, 1871 seemed the more likely to break the deadlock, but a couple of minutes into the second half the Barnet inside centre slippe d a tackle to finish just to the left of the uprights. On 50 minutes Barnet moved into a 14-0 lead with a neat kick-and-collect.

Having already lost No 8 Oscar Avis to a recurrence of a hip injury early in the game, Ealing suffered a mounting injury toll as the second half progressed, losing centres Josh Steadman and Stan Duhamel and fly half Callum Nolan-Hutchinson, who was taken to hospital for treatment. Barnet sealed their victory with a third try as the forwards drove over from a line-out, and safely saw out the remainder of the game with Ealing a man short after using all three substitutes and then going down to 13 men through a yellow card.

Ealing drop back to fifth in the league, while Barnet drop to second despite their win by failing to collect a four-try bonus while London Scottish collected maximum points in their own game. With two games against teams in the bottom half of the table to go before Christmas, 1871 will hope that the break from mid-December to mid-January will allow most of the injured squad members to recover in time to play in the return fixtures in 2022.