London Welsh Preview

  It’s hard to talk about London Welsh without entering into a discussion about the relative merits of the promotion structure, and, indeed, the club have gone public today with their thoughts on the inconsistent levels of funding.  

Welsh have been here before. It took a court case for them to take their place in the 2012/2013 Aviva Premiership, and, against all odds, they recorded five league victories, but it was not enough to avoid relegation. Although a points deduction for serious misconduct by a departed club official in terms of the registration of Tyson Keats, in the final table, this didn’t prove decisive as the margin of relegation was more than the points removed.

In those successes, at home to Exeter Chiefs, Bath, London Irish and Worcester, as well as at Sale Sharks, they proved themselves a competent outfit, able to win low scoring games, such as against Bath and London Irish, and tight one point affairs, such as against Exeter. Then, as now, there were some heavy losses, but not to the same extent as this campaign. That season saw home and away wins for Saracens against the Exiles, an early season 28-23 win at the Kassam Stadium seeing Charlie Hodgson score all of the visitors points, whilst, as one of the first visitors to Allianz Park, in early March 2013, Welsh were seen off 35-14 in a bonus point victory featuring scores from Sam Tomkins, Will Fraser and David Strettle, as well as a penalty try.

It’s often been said that Bristol might have done better in the Premiership this season, but, then, this was a side who Welsh comprehensively beat by a 20 point aggregate margin in the play-off final, so earnt their place fully on merit. The large margin of defeats presently being suffered do not necessarily tell the whole story. I’ve only seen them live once this season, back in September at Sale, and they were well in the game, but a horrendous finish and basic errors took the Sharks to within range of 50 points. However, sides are generally finding it relatively easy to score points against them, although not always, as Leicester in particular struggled to overcome them. The season began with a miserable 52-0 home loss to Exeter ahead of a 53-26 reverse at Bath, and the aforementioned 46-8 defeat at Sale. Another home loss to Gloucester saw them nearly concede 50 points again, and they let in 52 points at Harlequins without reply, at the start of October. They lost what was already billed as a relegation decider, 23-3 at home to Newcastle Falcons, and in the Challenge Cup, they lost at home to Lyon and at Bordeaux-Begles. The LV= Cup served up a 47-7 loss at Bath ahead of a tighter 18-9 home defeat to Gloucester ahead of a 71-7 humiliation at Wasps. Pride was restored to a certain extent by a 26-5 loss at home to Leicester, before the home defeat to Northampton and losses to Edinburgh.

When they can hold onto the ball, the Oxford side can score some attractive tries, but they cannot seem to get a result from anywhere, even conceding a double defeat to a struggling Edinburgh side in the Challenge Cup.

That said, it is crucial that Saracens are not complacent – whilst it may be a good time to give some of the high performing Storm side an opportunity in the first team, it is important to win the game, and hopefully claim a bonus point if Sarries continue to demonstrate the returning attacking edge shown against Sale. Experienced fly half Ollie Barkley returned to action against Edinburgh, so will hopefully improve the direction of the side, but the injury of World Cup winning scrum half Piri Weepu, with the Kiwi only featuring in seven games, has been a real blow. Notably, though, at least half of the latest squad consisted of players there last season.

Their last Premiership match, a 43-14 home loss to Northampton, saw long serving Seb Jewell at full back, with former Quin Seb Stegmann, an influential figure in last season’s promotion win, and Nick Scott on the wings. In the centres, former Saint and now captain Tom May partnered ex Llanelli Scarlet Nic Reynolds, whilst the half back roles were filled by one time Saracens Gordon Ross, at fly half (and also a coach) and former Munster scrum half Paul Rowley, In the forwards, loosehead prop Ricky Reeves featured for Saracens in the 2012./2013 LV= Cup, alongside New Zealand born hooker Nathan Vella and ex Wasps tighthead Taione Vea. The second row combination featured ex Sale and Worcester player Dean Schofield, alongside former Cardiff Blue James Down, whilst the back row was made up of ex Quin Peter Browne, reigning player of the year Carl Kirwan and former Australian under 20 Lachlan McCaffrey.