Bank holidays aren’t always good for numbers for rugby but we had a full squad of 16 players that turned out for London Scottish.
Only one prop in the mix but confident in the ability of the players that had to step up into the front row.
A few new faces made their debut in a London Scottish shirt and we were pleased with their contribution as well as with our other young players that form part of the senior amateur squad. We had a good balance in the squad despite lacking another front rower.
Our pool consisted of the Tabard, Wasps Nomads, Camberley and ourselves which meant 3 games in the pool stages.
Games were 20 minutes in total with 10 minutes a half.
The opening game was against Tabard and with two tries for Luke Thompson, one each for Ian Brooks, Aaron Clapperton, Freddie Firth and Robbie Macdonald and a conversion by Adam Webber we finished with a 32-5 win.
The second pool match saw us playing against the home side, Wasps Nomads, with 3 players each scoring a brace of tries: Alvise Faraon, Robbie Macdonald who also converted a try, and Elliot Thompson while Aaron Perrin scored a try and therefore has a fine that is carrying over to the next fines meeting as he did not complete a brace of tries like the other 3 players that scored. Score was 37-0.
The last game in the pool was against a strong Camberley outfit with a full front row and we were put under pressure in the rain in this facet of play but with tries for Luke Thompson again converted by Robbie Macdonald and then Louie Salmon finished it off in the corner from a good piece of interplay with his buddy and centre from Brighton, Freddie Firth. Final score line read 12-0 which meant we won our pool and was in the main final against Pool 1 winners Tonbridge Juddians. One fine that will be carried over to the fines meeting is where scrumhalf Aaron Clapperton failed to beat the Camberley prop on the outside despite having 15m to work in.
Although we had to wait an hour and forty five minutes to play the final the boys took the time to get to know each other and it gave us time to have individual chats with all the new players.
The Cup Final we came up against a big pack from Tonbridge, with a proper front row, and we did well to keep going despite losing the battle in the scrums.
The final score was 7-0 to Tonbridge.
It was a very encouraging day for this young group of players and we did put together some great rugby most of the day. Most of these players will play a part in Wednesday’s game at 16:00 against Ulster Academy which will be a big test. But the benefit of having played some rugby together will help in getting some understanding in a game that will see the youngsters at London Scottish facing a high level academy team.
Saturday's squad:
Alvise Faraon
Mungo Strachan
David Greene
Luke Thompson
Ian Brooks
Aaron Clapperton
Adam Webber
Freddie Firth
Robbie Macdonald
Elliot Thompson
Charlie Watts
Sam Hawley
Hamish Coventry
Charlie Marchant-Rowe
Louie Salmon
Aaron Perrin
London Scottish U20s face Ulster Academy this Wednesday at The Athletic Ground, 4pm kick off – all welcome.
To find out more about the London Scottish Senior section, contact Club Development Manager Corne Du Rand on corne.durand@londonscottish.com
