Raiders captain James Arthur’s weekly column (November 25)

We knew that we would have to be on our metal to get anything out of this game and, after the disappointment of last week, this was something we were determined to do.

The side this week saw Shane Costigan start at scrum-half in place of the suspended Mike Marsh and Paul Dunkley came into the centres as Greg Sullivan moved to the bench.

We started brightly and soon were penning Ealing into there own 22. Unfortunately, a turnover allowed them to break out and we got our first taste of how dangerous Ealing’s backs could be given even the smallest space.

We responded well and a jinking run from Joe Govett created the space for me to crash over.

This was to be my last part in the game as I was forced off with a hand injury that I had picked up earlier in the half and Sam Hewick came on as my replacement.

We had taken the lead and, with only a few minutes to half-time, confidence was growing.

Unfortunately, it was Ealing’s forwards who crashed over just before the whistle and to make matters worse, we lost a Raider to the sin bin.

The second half was a strange affair. We played some great rugby and scored probably our best try of the season when Matt went over and our defence was solid and our set-piece was functioning well.

We just had no answer to the Ealing backline’s raw pace and, at times, slick handling.

Charlie burrowed over towards the end to give us the chance of the losing bonus point and also the possibility of the four-try point.

This wasn’t to be and Ealing had the final word with a penalty kick.

We deserved to get something out of this game, but that’s not how it works.

It was a much-improved display this week, both in attack and defence, and at times we played some great rugby but we are still not able to piece it together for the full 80 minutes. This will be our focus at training in the coming weeks.

The other results this week saw wins for Richmond, Dings, Henley, Jersey, Old Albanians and this week’s opponents Taunton. Hinckley picked up their first win of the season against Newbury in the battle of the bottom two.

As I have said, this week we make the long trip to the West Country to face a strong Taunton side, who are sitting in fourth place.

I’m sure this will be another tough, physical encounter and the squad would appreciate as much support as possible from as many of you who can make the trip west.