1
Bundee Aki dropped and facing hearing just days before Six Nations
1
{{item.n}}
Alana Borland: From Christchurch to Ealing, why Trailfinders is living up to expectations
One of the big unknowns in the PWR this season has been which Trailfinders will turn up to play.
Will it be the terrorising Trailfinders of round 3 who smashed the early-season confidence of Sale to run out 64-22 victors at Heywood Road, or will it be the bedraggled and damp Trailfinders of round 5 who copped a 5-57 filleting at home at the hands of Saracens?
Or could it be the grizzled comeback kids that sprung a second-half surprise on the champions Gloucester-Hartpury, falling just a point short of a famous win?
VIDEO
There’s no hiding the fact that Trailfinders have been wildly unpredictable in the first half of the season. Yet Alana Borland – one of Trailfinders’ (many) global stars and summer signings – believes there is a consistent, even metronomic, version of themselves waiting to emerge in the second half of this year’s PWR.
“When it clicks it feels so good,” the 35-times capped Black Fern said. “We’ve scored some awesome team tries throughout the season and we’ve also had some times when our continuity hasn’t looked great.
“When we do get a good platform it’s starting to look really good and I guess we kind of get into a flow state, where we love attacking. We’ve got some very, very fast backs out there, who are hard to keep up with.
“We’ve rotated the squad a bit and everyone’s fitting in pretty seamlessly now, learning how everyone else plays, because we’ve all come from different international teams, and different countries.”
The cosmopolitan make-up of Trailfinders is not unique in the PWR, as many teams have signed players from around the world, it just happens to be more obvious in Ealing. In all this summer, 18 players departed, and 17 new ones arrived, with a few more having since joined as injury cover.
The calibre of the names turning out in west London this season has led to Trailfinders being classed as somewhat of a fantasy rugby team. And in fairness that is accurate. Borland was undoubtedly one of the headline names to arrive, so too her New Zealand team-mate, hooker Georgia Ponsonby – both are World Cup winners from 2022.
Then there’s Meg Jones – World Player of the Year nominee and the heartbeat of the Red Roses backline that won the World Cup in September. There’s also a star-studded Scottish contingent headed by former Scotland captain Rachael Malcolm, the 67-times capped lock Emma Wassell and lethal winger Fran McGhie.
And there’s more.
A couple more Black Ferns in Maia Roos and Tanya Kalounivale. Plus Haidee Head, a tyro back rower from Australia, who has just been selected for her first England training camp.
Trailfinders were unpredictable in the first half of the season, yes, but they were also un-used to each other.
But the cohesion is coming, insists Borland, who has pointed to a mid-season review which kicked off 2026 as having helped the whole squad buy in to the progress they’re making.
“We started January with a review of how we’re tracking in attack and defence compared to other teams, and that was really interesting,” Borland said. “It showed that some of the stuff we’re doing is really, really good, and we just need to keep believing and keep doing that. Showing the group as a whole, not just the leaders, was quite powerful as everyone’s now aware of how we’ve improved from previous years.”
So what areas have Trailfinders improved in? And what areas need work?
“Our tries scored is way up there (3rd highest in the PWR behind Saracens and Gloucester-Hartpury), and our 22 entries have been awesome.
“When teams do get into our 22 they are scoring on us a bit more than we’d like them to so tidying up in that area (is a work on). Also working on our ball-carry and just being nice and direct when we do get the chance.”
Being ‘nice and direct’ is something that Trailfinders have excelled at this season: collectively they have beaten more defenders than any other in the league. So the fact Borland classes it as a work-on is telling about the kind of dynamism in contact that head coach Barney Maddison believes is possible from his team in 2026.
Indeed, when Trailfinders have found that ‘flow state’ that Borland mentions, it’s been off the back of some monster carrying from the likes of herself, Abi Burton, Roos, Ponsonby, Kate Zachary, Grace Moore and the irrepressible prop forward Cassandra Tuffnail.
If they keep on improving in this area, every PWR team – including the three-time champions Gloucester-Hartpury – will struggle even more against them.
It’s no surprise therefore that Borland is bullish about Trailfinders’ chances of breaking into the top four and qualifying for the PWR semi-finals for the first time.
“It’s something this team has never done, so I’d love to be in the team that does do that,” she said. “This team’s been working really, really hard and I think it’s definitely something we can achieve.”
Borland knows better than most what it feels like to be part of a team that shakes off an auspicious start to achieve something truly special within the course of a single season.
At the top of her CV is winning the World Cup with New Zealand in 2022, just 12 months after making her debut during the Black Ferns’ nadir: a record-breaking couple of losses to England in Exeter [43-12] and in Northampton [56-15] in the autumn of 2021. New Zealand lost two further Tests to France that November before limping home to New Zealand knowing that major changes were needed if they were to defend their World Cup crown the following winter.
Which of course they did, and Borland was an integral player as the Black Ferns famously turned the tables on France in the semi-finals, winning 25-24; and then even more dramatically against England in the final at Eden Park, winning 34-31.
So what are Borland’s memories of that stunning turnaround season?
“Well, we got new coaches in for the second half of that World Cup season (Wayne Smith, Graham Henry, Mike Cron and Whitney Hansen) and there was so much we needed to improve on but they just pulled out three main things that were going to make the biggest difference for us in the World Cup.
“I think it was our fitness, our kicking, and our attacking game. And they just made it really simple, and everyone was on the same page and knew exactly what our focus needed to be to win the World Cup in such a short amount of time.
“That season I got access to some of the most incredible coaches and learnt so much. What kind of looks impossible from the outside can actually be achieved when you’re striving towards the same thing as a group. And what we did was kind of like a fairytale because no one could ever have imagined it in November the previous year, when we had those record losses to England. And now, I’m looking forward to seeing how far Ealing can go in this next half of the season. I think everyone here is really excited.”
PWR
P
W
L
D
PF
PA
PD
BP T
BP-7
BP
Total
1
Saracens Women
8
7
1
0
35
2
Gloucester-Hartpury Women RFC
7
7
0
0
35
3
Harlequins Women
7
4
3
0
23
4
Exeter Chiefs Women
7
3
2
2
22
5
Loughborough Lightning
7
3
2
2
21
6
Trailfinders Women
7
3
3
1
20
7
Sale Sharks Women
7
1
5
1
12
8
Bristol Bears Women
7
1
6
0
5
9
Leicester Tigers Women
7
0
7
0
1
In their attempt to establish a version of themselves that can propel them towards the play-offs, Trailfinders have the advantage that Borland and Ponsonby are sticking around for the whole season, and maybe beyond.
Meanwhile, top four rivals Harlequins will have to cope with their impressive Black Fern Liana Mikaele-Tu’u and are already without Layla Sae who suffered a season-ending ACL injury back in December, with both returning to New Zealand at the end of March, whilst Bristol will be saying goodbye to Ruahei Demant at the same time too.
Unlike some of her New Zealand team-mates, Borland and Ponsonby have both turned down central contracts with the New Zealand Rugby Union in order to roll deep with Trailfinders in the PWR. Not only will they see out this season in full with Trailfinders but if all parties are happy, they will take up the offer of staying for another season in west London.
For someone who had never previously lived outside of Christchurch, coming to England for Borland was as much a lifestyle choice as it was a rugby choice.
From being fascinated by squirrels (which New Zealand doesn’t have) and perplexed by the confidence of urban foxes, to the novelty of taking the tube around London, and the assault on the senses of arriving above ground at Tottenham Court Road, Borland’s first experience of living abroad has so far been the experience she hoped it would be.
Having moved over here with her husband John, the success of the Borlands’ stay in Ealing is not solely dependent on how things go for Borland on the field. But good news has recently arrived on the doorstep of the house she shares with John and Ponsonby, because John has just landed a job in sales after a three-month search.
Whilst Borland is delighted for John, who she married over the summer, she’s aware it may come at a cost to her own lifestyle.
“He was doing a pretty good job of being a house husband, so hopefully he can keep that up,” she laughs. “But yeh it’s pretty cool, it’s pretty competitive over here so he’s been putting in the hours working on a CV and applying, and interviews. He was working for a brewery back in New Zealand but he’s landed a job in sales for a fuel company.
“He enjoys having a relationship with people, so he’s pretty good at the sales role. Hopefully he enjoys that and maybe we can stay over here a little bit longer.”
If John’s job means the Borlands can now confidently plan on staying in Ealing for another season, John may find he never needs to buy another pint again at Vallis Way.
In the more immediate term, he’ll need to wriggle out of any post-work drinks this Friday night, as Trailfinders are hosting Harlequins in the fixture which kicks off the second half of the PWR. For Trailfinders it’s not only a fixture which promises entertainment but one which will go a long way to seeing if their push for the play-offs is a realistic ambition.
“They’re the only team we haven’t played yet and it’s definitely the game we’re looking forward to most (from the next block). They’re a top team and it’s gonna be a big one. We’ve got to make sure we come back from this break and get everyone on the same page.”
If they do, Trailfinders’ following matches come against the league’s bottom three teams, Bristol, Sale and Leicester, meaning they’ll very possibly enter March undefeated in 2026.
And from that vantage point in the future, Borland and her intrepid Trailfinders can really start to dream about a new rugby fairytale in west London.
We've ranked the best women's rugby players in the world, from 50 - 1! View the Top 50 now
