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Djustice Sears-Duru has a new home. Following his release from the Glasgow Warriors at the end of the 2016-17 season, the 23-year-old Canadian prop has joined Greene King IPA Championship club Ealing Trailfinders. Sears-Duru’s first action with the club came on Saturday in a pre-season tilt against Welsh Premiership side Merthyr.
It’s welcome news for Sears-Duru, who struggled to get game time at Warriors and spent much of last season on loan with Ayr, where he contributed to a BT Premiership title last April. In 2017 he has established himself as first choice loosehead for Canada in the absence of injured Hubert Buydens, fending off the challenge of provincial stalwarts Rob Brouwer and Anthony Luca. Now with 30 caps to his name, Sears-Duru will look to make an impact in England’s second division, a league notorious for strong forward play.
Trailfinders are a club with nearly 150 years of history but are relatively new to professionalism. Located in West London, they first broke into the Championship in 2013-14 but were immediately relegated to National One. They immediately bounced back and after finishing the 2015-16 Championship season in 11th place they enjoyed a landmark year in 2016-17, finishing in 3rd place and defeating Yorkshire Carnegie in their last match of the season but missed out on the Championship final on points aggregate.
The club have recruited heavily in the off-season, most notably adding US Eagles flanker Andrew Durutalo, Scotland scrumhalf Grayson Hart, and England ‘A’ flyhalf Rory Clegg to an ever-improving cast. Other Americas players who have featured in recent times include Argentine prop Ignacio Sáenz Lancuba, Canada u20 reps Richard Townsend and Simon Sexton, and a trio of USA internationals in Tom Bliss, Will Magie, and Ronnie McLean.
