London Welsh won the battle of the Exiles this afternoon at Richmond Athletic Ground securing a 32-21 victory over London Scottish.
It was the fourth encounter between the sides this season and the Dragons victory meant it finished two apiece overall.
The result all but extinguished Scottish hopes of ending the season in the Greene King IPA Championship play-off positions whilst at the same time guaranteeing London Welsh a top four finish.
The hosts dominated the opening half but could not make their superiority count, going in just two points ahead at the break.
Then, in the second half, Welsh upped the tempo, dominating the physical battle as well as possession and territory to seal victory.
James Love kicked the Scots into an early 3-0 lead courtesy of a penalty before Alex Davies replied in kind on 14 minutes to bring Welsh level.
Another Love penalty restored Scottish's advantage but Davies again responded with a penalty for 6-6.
Scottish scored their opening try midway through the half and it was trademark stuff.
From an attacking line-out, the forward pack drove towards the line with skipper Mark Bright eventually pealing off to crash over in the right corner.
Davies kept Welsh in touch with his third penalty of the afternoon but the fly-half was soon sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on which resulted in Dan Newton restoring Scottish's five point advantage, 14-9.
Seb Jewell's penalty on the stroke of half time made it 14-12 at the break despite what had been a dominant first half performance from the hosts.
Welsh came out the traps quickly in the second half and took the lead through number eight Dan Browne, who powered over the line from 22 metres out, touching down under the posts.
Jewell's simple kick made it 19-14 and Alex Davies, back from his sin-binning, moved the visitors 11 points ahead following two successive penalties.
Scottish needed to score next and they did just that with Lee Millar making a fine break inside the Welsh 22 before stepping past the full-back for a try.
Newton's kick made it a four point game but Welsh responded immediately, replacement winger Joe Ajuwa taking advantage of some weak Scottish tackling to score under the posts.
Davies's conversion allowed Welsh to regain their 11 point gap at 32-21 and that's how it ended as the visitors saw out the remaining minutes,
Listen to coach James Buckland's post match interview here.
London Scottish's next home league game is against Bedford Blues on Sunday, April 13th, 2pm kick-off.
1878 tickets are sold out but Highlander (outer wing of stand) and Clan (ground tickets) are available to buy online here or by calling to ticket office on 020 3397 9551.
Hospitality for the Bedford game is sold out
London Scottish:
15, Jim Thompson, 14, James Love; 13, Mike Doneghan; 12, PJ Gidlow; 11, Miles Mantella; 10, Dan Newton; 9, Jordi Pasqualin; 1, Jamie Kilbane; 2, Adam Kwasnicki; 3, Tomas Francis; 4, Tyler Hotson; 5, Dave Lyons; 6, Neil Best; 7, Matt Everard; 8, Mark Bright (c).
Used replacements: 22, Lee Millar; 21, Sam Stuart; 17, George Hunter; ; 18, Lewis Thiede, 16, Tedd Stagg; 19, Paul Spivey.
Unused replacements: 20, Tommy Spinks.
Tries: Bright, Millar
Conversions: Newton
Penalties: Love (2). Newton
London Welsh:
15, Seb Jewell; 14, Seb Stegmann; 13, Tom May (c); 12, James Tincknell; 11, Nick Scott; 10, Alex Davies; 9, Chris Cook; 1, Tom Bristow; 2, Nathan Morris; 3, James Tideswell; 4, Ben West; 5, Matt Corker; 6, Mitch Lees; 7, Mike Denbee; 8; Daniel Browne.
Used replacements: 19. Peter Edwards; 22, Alan Awcock; 20. Ollie Stedman; 21. Joe Ajuwa; 16. Kevin Davis; 18. Ian Nimmo.
Unused replacements: 17. Alec Hepburn.
Tries: Browne, Ajuwa
Conversions: Jewell, Davies.
Penalties: Davies (5), Jewell.
Sin-Binned: Davies.
Referee: John Meredith
Assistant referees: Craig Maxwell-Keys, Brian Ravenhill.
Attendance: 1807.
