London Scottish head into the visit of Hartpury in search of an illusive win. After six defeats in a row, some respite couldn’t come soon enough. We caught up with Head Coach Joe Gray as he assessed the last few weeks and where this weekend was going to be won and lost.

“We were really frustrated after the Coventry game, we actually had a really good week’s prep and felt good. We started well and built some pressure, but all of a sudden we gave up three tries in 4 minutes.

That’s when our heads really dropped which is probably the most disappointing thing, as a group we want to be able to fight and graft for each other.

The second half we came out strong but our ill discipline lead to two yellow cards which allowed them to come back in. We did have opportunities but didn’t execute. We’ve got to lick our wounds and improve a lot this week.”

“We’re really excited to be back at the RAG, we love being at home and we’ve had some great battles with Hartpury over the years. Hopefully it’s a really exciting game and we can have the RAG pumping.”

Looking at the threat of Hartpury and where the game was going to be won and lost Joe has pointed out “there is going to be two battles really, the set piece is going to be massive. We have to have a decent scrum performance and get our maul into the game.

The other side to that is that Hartpury like to throw it around, play and score tries. Just like we do if we get good ball. Both areas are going to be huge, the set piece and the ability to move the ball and score good tries.”

Hartpury are one of the most proficient kicking sides in the league, ranking first in number of kicks and metres kicked showing how they look to dominate territory before allowing the backs to get into the game.

As a result their carry numbers and metres are some of the lowest in the league as the prioritise efficiency over volume. This does not mean they don’t like playing with the ball though scoring tries for fun in games this season and it being a big part of their identity.