| London Scottish 19 v Ealing 16 |
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London Scottish took a massive step towards promotion and the National League 3 South title after a 19-16 victory over second-placed Ealing following a thrilling game at the Athletic Ground. The result leaves Ealing eight points adrift of Scottish, who also have a game in hand over their West London rivals, and just a point ahead of third-placed Rosslyn Park.
The win seals an outstanding few weeks for Scottish, whose last four games have pitted them against all but one of the five teams immediately below them in the league, recording wins against Richmond, Rosslyn Park and Dings Crusaders. With nine games left, and seven of those against teams currently occupying the bottom half of the table, Scottish will be aiming to maintain their near-perfect league form this season which has seen them win 16 matches, with only Rugby Lions able to avoid defeat against the league leaders following the sides’ 18-18 draw last November. Defeat for Ealing caps a wretched spell for the West London club that has seen them suffer three defeats in four games, including losses to Barking and Rugby Lions which, together with this latest setback, have dealt a potentially fatal blow to the West London side’s promotion hopes, with no play-off berth available for the league runners-up. As expected, Ealing were fired up for this crucial clash, taking an early lead when Ben Ward slotted over a penalty kick in the opening minute, and the full back doubled his side’s lead 12 minutes later to leave Scottish in no doubt that they had a fight on their hands. Scottish fly-half James Brown, back in the side following his injury at Rosslyn Park two weeks ago, pulled three points back shortly after with a penalty kick of his own, but on 24 minutes Ward restored Ealing’s advantage with his third successful attempt of the match. That proved to be the high point of the visitors’ afternoon and a little after the half-hour mark, a surging run from Ian McInroy, a deserving winner of the Saudex Global man of the match award, resulted in his setting up the opening try for fellow centre Rory Damant, reducing the deficit to one point, although Brown’s conversion attempt hit the post. Shortly before half-time, Scottish forward Paul Volley was sin-binned, but Ealing proved unable to turn their numerical superiority into points. Then, 15 minutes into the second half, it was the visitors’ turn to find themselves temporarily a man down after flanker Harry Rowland had been shown the yellow card, and scrum-half Simon Amor, taking on kicking duties, put over two successful penalty attempts during the ensuing ten minutes to put Scottish 14-9 ahead. The home side’s momentum continued even once parity in numbers had been restored, full back Frank Neale crossing the line for a try on 68 minutes after winger Roman Piotrowski had gathered a deft kick through the Ealing defence from Brown, and although the conversion attempt went wide, Scottish had a vital ten-point cushion. With seven minutes left, the visitors gave themselves a lifeline when Ben Ward converted his own try to pull his side back to within three points of Scottish and give the home crowd an uncomfortable last few minutes, but there was to be no further score and Ealing will take scant comfort in gaining a loser’s bonus point. Scottish continue their league campaign next Saturday when the make the trip to Hampshire to face Havant, and then have a run of three successive home matches the last of which, on Calcutta Cup day, sees the visit of Rugby Lions to the Athletic Ground. London Scottish 19 Tries: McInroy, Neale; Penalties: Brown, Amor (2) Ealing 16: Try: Ward; Conversion: Ward; Penalties: Ward (3) London Scottish: Neale, Yiend, Damant, McInroy, Piotrowski, Brown, Amor, Millard, Gotting, Ward, Livingston, Fullerton, Lipp, Volley, Soden (Replacements: Johnston, Fahey, Smith, Heeks, Rust) Ealing: Hodgkinson, Bruyneels, James, Tucker, Richards, Ward, Smaje, Neville, Dalgleish, Alexopoulos, Winterbottom, Garvey, Rowland, King, Lock (Replacements: Le Chevalier, Brown, Essien, Palmer, Price) |
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