It could have been pointless.

This was Combe’s second visit to Ealing this season, the original fixture at Easter having been cancelled unfortunately at short notice. Nothing was riding on the game: whoever won points for the table were not going to alter their position or standing. As it was Ealing got their five point win, and Combe did not add to their season’s tally. The final score was 73-6, so at least Combe did get some points on the board, with two penalties from Harvey.
May? There was a chill easterly wind, and no hint of any sunshine. Team wise Combe were without key players through injury as well as other obligations, and the bench included home grown youngsters untried at this level. If the game was to mean anything, they could at least take something from this experience.
Ealing scored eleven tries in total, with nine of them converted. Most of the tries came from strong running, running from deep, generally good support play, and once in a while a little rub of the green. It was a show to put on for their supporters in this their last home game of a successful season, albeit one where they had fallen just short in the final count. To their credit, Combe stuck at it all the way through, but their pick and drive was never going to translate into enough points to keep the game competitive. For a while Combe had some ascendancy in the scrums, but at half time, when the score was 28-6, the front row had to regroup when Green went off with a shoulder injury. Ealing kept the scoreboard ticking over in the second half, and as both sides used their substitutes the game lost some of its shape, and drifted towards its inevitable conclusion. Combe’s travelling support, only about a dozen and an equal balance of anoraks and blazers, stuck at it to the end as well. It was the last occasion of the season to give that Freedom pass an airing.

Westcombe Park XV : Simpson; Maybank, Davies, Purdy, Boto; Harvey, Southcombe; Green, Brooks, Kavanagh, Chance, Watkins, Clark, Abbott, Catlin.

Substitutes used : Denton, Threlfell, Lewis, Pace, Taylor.

Match reporter : Bruce Mackenzie.