Ahead of a West London derby which sees Ealing Trailfinders hosted at the RAG by London Scottish we sat down with new signing, Jack Leslie, as he chats his return from injury, settling in in London and a visit from Ealing. We also spoke to attack coach, Pierre Clark, as he analysis the squad’s development over the season so far.
Jack Leslie joined London Scottish from Otago in New Zealand, moving across the globe to join the Exiles in West London. With strong Scottish roots, Jack’s father is the famed Scottish centre John Leslie.
Speaking on settling in at Scottish Jack has said “I’ve found it really awesome, the boys have been great and really welcoming to me. The coaches and Brushy have been great, I’ve only got good words to say about”
Jack’s season started that bit latter than the rest of his teammates due to an injury sustained in pre season. However, he returned against Chinnor last week and earned the side’s player of the week, with an impact score of 8 in just 40 minutes.
Speaking on this return to the side Jack has said “it was a great experience, I was really happy to be out there with the boys. It’s been a tough 8 weeks watching the boys from the sidelines.”
In this cameo against Chinnor Jack, beat 4 defenders in the second half and topped the charts for metres made for Scottish despite playing just half a game.
Scottish fell just short against Chinnor a couple of weeks ago but it’s clear the side are building something Leslie was quick to point out.
“We didn’t get the result but we are close, we’re nearly there. We’ve had some really tight games and we’ve done a lot of good things. I actually think we are a lot closer than the scoreboards are reflecting, we’ve just to stick to what we believe in and trust the process.
Attack Coach Pierre Clark enters his second season with London Scottish having spent time with the London Irish and Saracens Academy. He’s spoken about the first block and the disappointment in that period “there’s plenty of things we can work on and lots of positives but ultimately the results haven’t gone our way.”
Looking ahead in the run up to the festive period, Pierre has noted that “we need to be more clincial and ruthless. We need to come away with points when we put pressure on teams with out kick game and set piece. That will be a massive focus in the next block.”
Looking ahead to a visit of Ealing, Pierre looks at where that game is going to be won and lost “they are a pro team and a very physical team. I’ve always been impressed with their physicality and line speed, we are going to have to manage that creatively. But we are looking forward to playing the current the Champions and will look to put them under pressure.”
Ealing’s physicality is undoubted so far this season. They lead the league in carry metres and also sit in the top half for dominant carry percentage.
They are a side that favours running with the ball over kicking it. They have the fifth most carries but the 10th most kicks and only 8th most kick metres. Conversley London Scottish sit 11th in carries but 4th and 5th in kicks and kick metres.
As a result, it is likely to be a clash of styles on Saturday as Scottish will look to jostle for territory whilst Ealing are a little bit more direct. A fascinating Clash as Scottish will look to ignite their season at the RAG!
