Ealing Trailfinders' Craig Hampson had more than one reason to celebrate on Saturday as Trailfinders romped to a bruising victory over Ampthill in round five of the Championship. 

Trailfinders came out all guns blazing to produce an outstanding 92-0 victory on home soil - a fitting homage to Hampson who also celebrated his 100th outing in the green jersey.

The hosts put on a relentless display at both ends of the pitch, with director of rugby Ben Ward insisting the hosts’ 14-try victory is a true testament to the quality of the squad. 

“I thought we were really impressive,” he said, speaking after the match at Trailfinders Sports Ground. “Really ruthless in attack and equally ruthless in defence, we did the simple things well.

“The 92-point scoreline was really impressive but to keep Ampthill to zero - they beat us last year and are a good side - we had to do a lot of work in our half. We worked up the field with our kicking game and won a lot of scraps within that which allowed us to launch our attack.”

Trailfinders were hot off the mark, capitalising on an unfortunate opening five minutes for the visitors who paid the price after winger Wilson Ijeh was shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on. 

The extra man advantage proved costly when Reuben Bird-Tulloch caught a break on the counter-attack to open the scoring with two tries in the space of just three minutes. 

While Tulloch provided the early cushion it was a full-team effort, no more evident than in the fact 10 different players got themselves on the scorecard - an impressive feat Ward put down to a collective sense of responsibility. 

“Everybody did their job really well individually and that makes the collective job a whole lot easier,” he said. 

“We received a fair few kick-offs and I thought David Bridge did a good job with those but that then involved another seven or eight players setting up the exit rucks, our chasers chased kicks hard, we won scraps on the floor. 

“In attack, our number nine and number 10 - Hampson and Dan Jones - controlled the game really well so it was a full-team performance.

“We always want to entertain and provide ‘value for money’ as they say so it was a good win and hopefully there’s some exciting matches coming up where the stands can get behind us.”

Individual tries came from Francis Moore, Matt Cornish, Angus Kernohan, Rayn Smid, Will Montgomery, Mikey Willemse, and Jordy Reid, with Tobi Wilson joining Bird-Tulloch in scoring a brace and Tom Collins coming through with a hat-trick.

Next up Trailfinders go head-to-head with Premiership side Saracens on November 2 - a side they have not beaten since 2021.

Sarries will no doubt be riding high after bouncing back from their famous derby defeat to Harlequins with a victory over Bristol Bears last time out, but Ward believes his side will be buoyed by the challenge. 

“Saracens are Premiership opposition, it’s always a tough game, so we’ll have to be right on our metal,” he said.

“They’re a team we respect hugely for all they have done and we’ve followed them closely over the years, so I think it will be a really entertaining game. It’s one we are very much looking forward to.”