James Love reflects on his first competitive appearance for London Scottish which saw a personal haul of 26 points and the FirstCape Wines Man of the Match award.

Rotherham were always going to bring a physical presence to The Athletic Ground and Love was impressed with how his teammates in the pack dealt with this threat.

Love: “The forwards fronted up really well. It set the tone from the beginning. I know we got the yellow card (prop Mark Irish) so we had seven men, but we held well and they didn’t score from that which really set the tone for the match and we showed we were there to do business.”

Despite the impressive personal points tally, 21 of those points were from penalties, and Love is looking forward to showing The Athletic Ground crowd some more attacking threat with ball in hand.

Love: “We didn’t actually get to attack much with the ball and any penalties we did get, we ended up kicking them but I thought it was definitely a step in the right direction. The boys are happy, we just need to try and get a bit more ball so we can play a bit more.”

This coming Saturday will see London Scottish’s third home game in a row as recently relegated Newcastle Falcons visit The Athletic Ground. The squad are well aware of the threat that they bring, however, Love is quick to point out that Scottish carry their own threat.

Love: “Obviously, we are going into this game as underdogs, so all the pressure is on them. We are going to give it all we’ve got and play how we know we can play. We’ve got a lot of ability and talent in the team, so you can’t write us off.”
The Athletic Ground crowd as ever will be vital as 16th man and Love is already enjoying playing in front of his new home crowd.

Love: “The crowd are really supportive and really get behind the team. The ground is lovely, the surface is brilliant, and to start with a win is awesome.”

James Love is still available to sponsor – for all London Scottish Player Sponsorship details, please click here.