London Scottish fell to a tough defeat against and in form Ampthill side who have now won their last four games, all with a bonus point. An injury stricken London Scottish side failed to contain their opponents on Saturday. We delve into why that was and where the game was truly won and lost in this week’s Stat Bunker brought to you by Cairnhill.
On the face of it the top line stats depict a relatively even affair, as is often the way possession and territory were close, with Ampthill just nudging the former.
Ampthill carried the ball more than their opponents and for substantially more metres, in particular metres after contact. Ampthill gained almost 50% more of these compared to London Scottish.
Once again Scottish’s defence let them down, completing just 66% of their tackles compared to 82% by Ampthill. This led to a differential of 10 when it came to line breaks between the two sides and Ampthill beat almost four times as many defenders as Scottish.
Scottish competed well at set-piece time but their line out became unstuck under a lot of high quality pressure from Ampthill. Only able to hold onto 79% of their own throws whilst Ampthill only lost one of their own.
Both sides operated at 100% on their own ball of the scrum and won a penalty each. An even day at scrum time which gave both sides a platform to play off.
Jonny Law and Matt Wilkinson were the standouts for Scottish, scoring their teams back and forward of the week. Both coming up with a try for their sides and putting in a strong shift all around the field before their substitutions.
Law put in an excellent display all round with the boot, kicking 11 times in the game and making minimal errors. This kept his side moving forwards and allowed him to nick a try later in the game.
Matt Wilkinson showed the power he possesses with his excellent try. This was just one of his eight carries in the game which saw him run for 30m ball in hand. Add that to the seven tackles and ten ruck entries he made in just fifty minutes of rugby, shows the impact he had on the day.
Discipline once again played a key factor in the way the result went on Saturday. Scottish gave away 12 penalties to Ampthill’s 8. Crucially six of these were in Scottish’s own half whilst Ampthill only gave away four in their own territory. This forced them on the back foot in key moments in the game and stopped Scottish from wrestling the momentum.
Overall, Ampthill showed their attacking teeth, winning more metres, beating more defenders and making more line breaks. Ultimately this led to points on the board as Scottish failed to fire as many shots as their opponents.
It is clear that defence must sure up over the next few weeks for Scottish and discipline must improve to get them in the right parts of the field at the right time. A lot of fix ups but definitely achievable looking ahead.
