London Scottish U14s triumphed 14-26 over their Exiles counterparts in a chilly contest over the weekend.
December arrived and brought with it the frost and glorious sunshine for the short brisk walk round to local rivals London Welsh. The London Scottish Under 14s are still building a new squad following the departures of some key players last season and this was a chance to test the team against opposition from the division above.
The team did not disappoint and after a warm-up, which also helped to get rid of the remnants of the ice in one corner of the pitch, the game started with the Welsh team in the ascendancy. On the smallest of the Welsh pitches it looked like the Scottish pack would struggle against bigger opponents but they soon got into their stride and competed well in the close contact areas.
Welsh scored first, creating space for one of their runners to bundle through the Scottish defence. A conversion put the hosts 7-0 up after just 3 minutes. The Scottish team then kicked long from the re-start and it looked like it was going to be a long afternoon. However, Scottish rallied and when Daniel scooped up a loose ball after some scrappy play, he sprinted clear to move the score to 7-5 after eleven minutes.
Four minutes later Welsh again took the ball into close quarters and this paid off as their strong forwards trundled over for their second score and a half-time lead of 14-5.
The second half was dominated by the Scottish team who by now had the confidence to attack their opposition from all areas of the pitch. Playing slightly downhill and with the low sun on their backs, some good positional kicking from Josh and Archie ensured that the team enjoyed the bet of the territory. Three unanswered tries then followed.
The first came just 2 minutes into the second half when Tyrese finished off a good attack by going in unopposed. Josh’s conversion put Scottish back in the game at 14-12. Sustained pressure from Scottish and some solid defence maintained the pressure on the Welsh team and with 14 minutes of the half gone, Daniel harried the Welsh team and pounced on an error and raced clear for his second score. The conversion was again slotted to move the score to 14-19.
When a five-meter attacking penalty was awarded to Scottish with just ten minutes of the half left the ball was given to Harith who cleverly stepped his way into the corner for the final score. Josh added the points completing a fine win for the Scottish boys.
