London Scottish have made one change to their starting line-up for the Exile Derby against London Welsh at Old Deer Park tomorrow afternoon.
The Scots are on a three-match winning run in all competitions and head in to tomorrow’s match high on confidence after last Saturday’s thrilling last-gasp 22-20 victory over Yorkshire Carnegie.
The only change to the starting 15 sees Rory Bartle replace Will Carrick Smith in the second-row, as the coaching staff decided to stick with the majority of the side that were successful last weekend.
Jack Cosgrove, David Cherry and Max Maidment start in the front-row, with Bartle being joined by Josh Thomas Brown in the second-row.
Freddie Clarke starts at blind-side flanker, beside Tinus du Plessis at open-side, and Mark Bright captains the side at number eight.
Matt Heeks and Dan Newton continue their half-back pairing, with Alex Grove and Robbie Fergusson also maintaining their starts in the centre.
Jason Harries, who has scored in two consecutive matches starts on the left wing, with Howard Packman on the right wing and Peter Lydon at full-back.
Tyrone Moran, James Gibbons and Matt Shields will give the Scots another front-row option from the bench. Will Carrick Smith is also among the substitutes, as well as Canadian International Evan Olmstead who will be looking to make his debut for the club.
George Horne and Aaron Morris will also look to make an impact from the bench, as they cover the back-line at Old Deer Park.
Head Coach Peter Richards is looking forward to another local derby. “It’s going to be a huge match tomorrow. We need to back up last week’s performance with another big effort against Welsh.”
He added: “Confidence is back again after three good performances recently and we know that if we keep up our form that we will be looking up the table for the remainder of the season.”
London Scottish team to play London Welsh on Saturday, 6th February in the Greene King IPA Championship at Old Deer Park.
15 Peter Lydon 14 Howard Packman 13 Robbie Fergusson 12 Alex Grove 11 Jason Harries 10 Dan Newton 9 Matt Heeks 1 Jack Cosgrove 2 David Cherry 3 Max Maidment 4 Rory Bartle 5 Josh Thomas Brown 6 Freddie Clarke 7 Tinus du Plessis 8 Mark Bright (c)
Replacements:
16 Tyrone Moran 17 James Gibbons 18 Matt Shields 19 Will Carrick Smith 20 Evan Olmstead 21 George Horne 22 Aaron Morris
