| AMOR STEALS THE SHOW AS SCOTTISH CLAIM THE POINTS |
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Rosslyn Park 7, London Scottish 18 Simon Amor was the star of the show as league leaders London Scottish ran out 18-7 victors against third-placed Rosslyn Park following a bruising encounter at The Rock, orchestrating a strong first-half performance from his usual position of scrum-half, then switching to fly-half after a heavy collision with an opposing player resulted in James Brown being knocked out just before the interval. With Brown surrounded by medical staff for several minutes, many in the crowd feared the worst, and it was with some relief that they saw the fly-half get to his feet to be led off the pitch before the teams came out for the restart. By the end of the match, he had recovered sufficiently to be able to cheer on his side’s victory from the touchline.Scottish had gone into the break with a 10-7 lead following a brace of tries for full back Lee Rust, sporting the number 22 shirt. Both were set up by the irrepressible Amor. Rust’s first came on eight minutes when, following a London Scottish scrum on the hosts’ 22, Amor’s pass found the full back, who outpaced the Park defence to score. His second, shortly before the half-hour mark, followed a beautifully flighted kick from Amor out to the right wing, Rust gathering cleanly to put Scottish 10-0 ahead. The visitors were well worth their lead, with several spells of flowing rugby when the ball seemed to pass through the hands of the entire team, but Rust’s two tries apart, spirited defending from Park meant that Scottish were unable to stretch their lead, although Ian McInroy came especially close to breaking through the ranks of red and white hoops, only to be denied at the last. Then, on 36 minutes, Park narrowed the gap to just three points, outside centre Alex Cadwallader exposing a gap in the Scottish defence to touch down under the posts, fly half Dylan Pugh duly converting. Throughout the second half, with Owain Walbyoff on at scrum-half, Scottish launched wave after wave of attacks at the Park defence, but with scant reward, only a penalty kick by Amor on 57 minutes adding to the score until his late try, although he also came close with a drop-goal attempt. Number eight Ledua Jope was particularly unlucky not to cross over when his charging run was halted just short of the line. Park had earlier missed an opportunity to level the scores when a penalty attempt drifted wide, but as the clock ticked down, the sizeable crowd – swelled by the presence of TV cameras filming ITV’s The Big Tackle show with former England star Austin Healey – got behind their side, urging them forward as they sought the seven points that might have given them a famous victory over the visitors. Even in the closing moments, once Amor’s try had put the result beyond doubt, the hosts pressed forward, looking to narrow the score and thereby secure a bonus point, but Scottish held firm to remain top of the league and maintain their unbeaten league record. London Scottish head coach Brett Taylor said that Amor’s performance had been “fantastic, absolutely outstanding – it showed in his attitude, in what he said to the team at half-time, and how he performed throughout the match”, adding that he had “nothing but admiration for the way the team as a whole performed this afternoon, they’re not a side to go and hide, they keep going to secure the result”. The team takes a break from league duties next weekend, making the long trip to Cornwall to face National League 2 side Mounts Bay in the fifth round of the EDF National Trophy. Rosslyn Park 7 (Try: Cadwallader; Conversion: Pugh) London Scottish 18 (Tries: Rust (2), Amor; Penalty: Amor) Rosslyn Park: Chris Simmons, John Swords, Alex Cadwallader, Rob Jewell (capt), Nick Canty, Dylan Pugh, Graham Barr, Nick Huggett, Amo Tauialo, Dan Frazier, Howard Quigley, Ross Forster, Morgan Jones, Martin Anayi, Adam Gates. Replacements: Chris Ritchie, Luke Charlton, Jon Underwood, Hayden Roche, Richard Mahoney. London Scottish: Lee Rust, Ross Yiend, Ian McInroy, Gary Trueman (capt), Roman Piotrowski, James Brown, Simon Amor, Andy Fahey, Stuart Silvester, Chris Johnson, Iain Fullarton, Grant Livingston, Mark Soden, Paul Volley, Ledua Jope. Replacements: Steve Millard, Ben Gotting, Alex Karonias, Owain Walbyoff, Rory Damant. |
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