London Scottish Lions continued their Counties 1 Herts/Middx campaign this weekend against Chiswick RFC. Whilst Lions B begun their season with a friendly against Battersea Ironsides 3rd XV.

Unfortunately it was not to be for both sides as the Lions came away with two defeats this weekend. Lions B were beaten by a score of 48-14 as they continue to build into their new season but wanted to extend their thanks to Ironsides for their fantastic hospitality throughout the day.

In the Lions A match, Chiswick made a bright start with an early try from hooker Nabil Dinashki from the back of a maul after a lineout, an area the hosts found difficult to control throughout the afternoon.
Two kicked penalties from scrum-half Nick Hill gave Lions a 6-5 lead, both following phases of sustained pressure in the Chiswick 22, but they will be frustrated that they had to settle each time for just three points. However, Chiswick would go into the lead at half time with the score at 10-6.

Lions began the second half in an unaccustomed losing position, but a third penalty from Hill narrowed the gap, and a well-worked pushover try from Number 8 Struan Dow then brought the scoreline to 14-17.
That was the closest Lions came to overturning Chiswick’s advantage, however, a penalty from Stein extending the visitors’ lead to six points with the final score of the match.
Lions – again a man up after Snook was carded for backchatting the referee – were frustrated at the death when a knock-on brought an end to a well-worked move that on another afternoon could have ended with a try and a conversion chance to snatch the win.

This weekend the Lions travel to Datchworth RFC in their first away trip of the season looking to bounce back to winning ways.