Jersey Reds lose 43-22 to Ealing in their clash at the top of the Championship

Harvey Biljon's Jersey Reds side have scored four tries or more in nine of their 11 league games this season

Jersey Reds lost their place at the top of the Championship after going down 43-22 at title favourites Ealing.

The hosts led 19-12 at the break after a hard-fought first 40 minutes and pulled away after the break to record a 10th victory from 10 games.

Ealing's bonus-point win put them a point ahead of Jersey from a game less, with a losing bonus point for Reds.

The Trailfinders have won all of their games in the Championship this season with a four-try bonus point.

Reuben Bird-Tulloch went over in the third minute for Ealing, but Jersey responded through an Alex McHenry score.

With Jersey 7-5 down Brendan Owen intercepted a pass for the islanders and broke clear, but he was superbly tackled by Jonah Holmes, and from then on Ealing took control.

Soon after Cian Kelleher went over for the hosts before Craig Hampson added their third try, although James Dun pulled one back for Jersey just before the break.

Craig Willis' accuracy from the tee made a big difference as the game went on - he landed five of six conversions as well as a penalty as Ealing outscored Jersey three tries to two in the second period.

Hampson crossed for a second to secure Ealing's bonus point before Jordan Holgate gave the islanders some hope with a third try, but almost immediately Ross Kane restored the hosts' advantage.

Will Brown's fine solo try secured a losing point for Jersey before Willis went over in the corner late on.

Jersey director of rugby Harvey Biljon:

"There are a couple of areas we will look at and need to improve on, our lineout didn't function when we got field position and we gave away too many penalties early on, not penalties where we were under pressure, silly penalties.

"We just needed to keep our composure and do the basics at times - we got in some great areas and then let it slip....we left a few points out there.

"We'll just stay focused. That's 10 games [won] out of 11, a pretty good track record, that's a pretty good 2022 and we'll remind ourselves that we've still got Ealing [to play] at home.

"When we come up against tough opposition, we must make sure we don't beat ourselves up and go away and improve again."