London Scottish have named their team to face third-placed Doncaster Knights in tomorrow’s Greene King IPA Championship match at the Athletic Ground.
The Scots were much-improved last weekend in the Exile Derby against London Irish and will be looking to carry that performance in to the fixture against the Knights who are aiming for a second consecutive season in the top-four.
The Scottish starting line up features three changes from their last outing, with all of them coming in the back-line behind an unchanged pack.
Earlier in the season the two sides met at Castle Park in what was a thrilling encounter. Doncaster had a 21-6 lead at half time but the Scots came out flying in the second half, and a 15 minute hat-trick from Jason Harries gave them a 23-21 advantage.
However the Knights responded with a late try and penalty to grind out a 29-23 victory, leaving the supporters hoping for similar drama in tomorrow’s re-match.
Jonny Harris, David Cherry and Ewan McQuillin start in the front-row, with captain Rory Bartle continuing his partnership with Charlie Hewitt in the second-row. Danny Kenny, Joe Atkinson and Ifereimi Boladau make up the back-row.
Jamie Stevenson starts at scrum-half alongside Harry Sheppard at fly-half, with Ross Neal returning at inside centre alongside Robbie Fergusson.
Auguy Slowik, who impressed on his try-scoring debut last weekend continues on the left wing, with Alec Coombes on the right wing and Peter Lydon at full-back.
Dan Koroi, Grant Shiells and Phil Cringle offer a front-row alternative, with Dom McGeekie and Matt Marley covering the rest of the pack. Ed Hoadley and Matt Williams complete the match day squad.
Head Coach Peter Richards is hoping the Scots can take momentum from the performance last weekend ahead of the return to the Athletic Ground.
“Doncater will be fresh after a weekend off and we’ve had a couple of very big efforts recently but if we play like we did against Irish we’ll put ourselves in a good position.”
London Scottish team to play Doncaster Knights on Saturday 4th February at 14:00 at the Athletic Ground:
15 Peter Lydon 14 Alec Coombes 13 Robbie Fergusson 12 Ross Neal 11 Auguy Slowik 10 Harry Sheppard 9 Jamie Stevenson 1 Jonny Harris 2 David Cherry 3 Ewan McQuillin 4 Rory Bartle (c) 5 Charlie Hewitt 6 Danny Kenny 7 Joe Atkinson 8 Ifereimi Boladau
Replacements:
16 Dan Koroi 17 Grant Shiells 18 Phil Cringle 19 Dom McGeekie 20 Matt Marley 21 Ed Hoadley 22 Matt Williams
