There were mixed fortunes for our Senior teams last weekend with the Kilts claiming the only win thanks to an excellent victory over Battersea.
Richmond 40 Highlanders 16
A very young enthusiastic London Scottish side turned up to take a more experienced Richmond side last Saturday and found out it was going to be a tough day at the office early doors.
Richmond came out hard scoring quickly through the backs within the first 10 minutes. Moments later poor discipline from Richmond at the break down gave outside centre James Lang the chance to take 3 points back.
Richmond responded with their forwards running some hard lines but great strength and technical skill from flanker Harry McCartney earned Scottish a penalty and another shot at posts.
Unfortunately Lang pulled this one wide. A determined home side ran back with great tenacity and poor tackling enabled them to score a try under the posts. However a now irritated but very skilful London Scottish backline managed to move the ball to our speedster Chris Asembo who went over in the corner for a try, followed by Lang adding an excellent conversion.
Scottish dug deep but couldn’t retain possession and some smart play by Richmond and lack of defensive shape from Scottish led to another soft try. Even with Lang slotting another impressive conversion, Scottish went in 28-11 down at half time.
A stern half time chat from coach David Box saw Scottish come out strong with some fantastic phases of play. A sudden turnover by Richmond and slow reactions by us led to break through try in the first 10 minutes.
A frustrated Scottish side defended well with some excellent scramble cover by the back row but with not even a sniff of the ball and a sin bin for prop Connor Turner another try from Richmond was the result.
London Scottish finally gained some momentum and with great carries from the tight five and some sharp runs from Sam Matanle, London Scottish had the final say with a bundle over try from the pack and captain Cameron Leigh.
This all came a bit late for the young side as the final whistle left them with a 40-16 defeat to swallow and lots to learn from.
Noteable mentions go to back row Harry McCartney and Sam Matanle for their technical prowess at the breakdown and determined tackling throughout the game.
Gasshoppers 44 London Scottish Claymores 5
A young London Scottish Claymores team with an average age of 19 played away in a friendly against an
experienced Grasshoppers team last weekend,
The game saw many players playing their first real senior rugby game together and it was a good game to get them accustomed to what senior rugby is about and what the season ahead will have in stall.
At half time the score was 15-5 for Grasshoppers and the young Scottish team was finding their feet and did well in defence for most of the half scoring a good try from a turnover by Andre Adeleke who broke through tackles in the wide channel after some slick hands.
In the second half Scottish were unable to build through phases or minimize mistakes and the home team capitalized on those to score five unanswered tries.
Battersea Ironsides 28 The KIlts 72
The overflow team from the London Scottish seniors section played against a similar team away at Battersea Ironsides.
Eleven players from London Scottish made the journey and played in an 80 minute 12-a-side game to gain valuable game time and fitness.
Some London Scottish players played their first game of the season and it is good to have them back.
Battersea borrowed a couple of players and the game turned out to be an enjoyable exercise for all.
The Battersea Ironsides player who turned out for The Kilts scored a conversion but the side ran in 13 tries and many were converted.
Ironsides also crossed the line a number of times in a friendly game played in good spirits
Scorers for the Kilts: David Greene (T/1), Joe Ward (T/1, C/1), Mark Canning (T3, C/2), Arlind Cela (T/2, C/3),
Charlie Marchant-Rowe (T/3, C/2), Gregor Paterson (T/2), Schihanader (T/2).
This weekend's fixtures:
Shield League Two: Highlanders v Redingensians (Kick off, 2pm,meet 12.30om at Richmond Athletic Ground
Middlesex Merit Table One: Claymores v London Cornish Choughs III (kick-off, 2pm, meet 12.30pm at Richardson Evans Memorial Playing Fields, Roehampton Vale, London, SW15 3PQ.
The Kilts and Extra B's are TRAINING in the gym on Saturday morning (Philip Stokes will confirm time) so anyone that does not have a game it will be good to get a session in.
The Extra B's start their Middlesex Merit Table Two campaign next week away against Streetonians II, September 21st.
The Kilts will look for a home game if we have a full team so we need to know who is available and who is not.
