Warriors take two points away from unbeaten Ealing

Worcester Warriors came away with two points from their opening game of 2026 after suffering a narrow defeat to unbeaten Ealing Trailfinders.

The defending champions scored two early tries, but the Warriors fought back and set up a tantalisingly close fixture that balanced on a knife-edge right up until the final whistle.

Worcester started the game strongly, putting the pressure on immediately from kick-off and causing some resolute defence early on for Ealing.

After withstanding the early Warriors charge, the hosts crossed from almost their first attack when hooker Scott Buckley went over from a driving maul.

And it soon became a quick-fire double with Francis Moore reading the intercept to run in from just inside his own half.

But the Warriors weren’t deterred by the early onslaught and crossed for their opener just three minutes later when Billy Twelvetrees pressured a box-kick to force the charge down before pouncing on the ball for his side's opener.

The sides were level on the twenty mark when Austin Wallis burrowed over on close-range after substantial pressure from the Warriors park on the Trailfinders line.

A Dan Jones penalty put his side back ahead, but the lead was brief with Obinna Nkwocha first regaining the restart and eventually crossing for Worcester’s third.

With five minutes left of the half, there was still time for the lead to change hands twice, first Ealing captain Josh Taylor added his side's third before a moment of magic put the Warriors back ahead at half-time.

On his first start at full-back, Juan Gonzalez sent up a chip and chase which he reclaimed magnificently before popping the offload to Josh Bassett, who raced in on his Warriors debut.

The tension levels were high from the start of the second period and it was Ealing who opened the scoring, once again through a Buckley driving maul try.

Roma Zheng, on his return to the Warriors side, crossed for another magic try when he claimed a high-ball well before dancing past Geordie Gwynn and racing in to put Worcester back-ahead.

Once again in this game, a lead didn’t last long with Ealing’s scrum-half Craig Hampson sniping over with Dan Jones converting for what proved to be the match-winning try.

As the clock edged towards its final moments, Hampson saw yellow for a high tackle on Tom Hendrickson – setting up a penalty opportunity and a chance for the Warriors to win it.

But the Warriors and Will Reed were denied by mere inches as the penalty hit the post, and the Trailfinders held on, but the Warriors and the ever-impressive travelling support were rewarded with two well-deserved points.

Ealing 34

T – Scott Buckley 8’, 48’, Francis Moore 10’, Josh Taylor 35’, Craig Hampson 68’

C – Dan Jones 10’, 35’, 68’

P – Dan Jones 23’

YC – Craig Hampson 77’

Warriors 33

T – Billy Twelvetrees 13’, Austin Wallis 20’, Obinna Nkwocha 25’, Josh Bassett 39’, Roma Zheng 65’

C – Will Reed 13’, 25’, 39’, 65’

Ealing Trailfinders Team

15 Patrick Campbell (Mann 77’), 14 Angus Kernohan (Scannell 58’), 13 Francis Moore, 12 Jordan Holgate (Edwards 58’), 11 Geordie Gwynn, 10 Dan Jones, 9 Craig Hampson; 1 Kyle Whyte (Donnelly 41’), 2 Scott Buckley, 3 George Davis (Bezuidenhout 73’), 4 David Douglas Bridge, 5 Matias Jurevicius (Lonsdale 65’), 6 Kyle Hatherell, 7 Conor Oliver (Carr 71’), 8 Josh Taylor ©

Unused 16 Harry Thompson

Worcester Warriors Team

15 Juan Gonzalez, 14 Roma Zheng, 13 James Short (Tom Hendrickson 20’(Tiff Eden 77’)), 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 Josh Bassett (Will Lane 56’), 10 Will Reed, 9 Lloyd Williams; 1 Billy Keast (Livai Natave 56’), 2 Austin Wallis (Jasper Spandler 60’), 3 Tim Hoyt (Ashley Challenger 68’), 4 Obinna Nkwocha, 5 Will Jeanes, 6 Tim Anstee, 7 Matt Kvesic ©, 8 Khalik Kareem (Thabo Ndimande 60’)

Unused 20 Tom Cowan