Four second half tries from Welsh sink Accies hopes at Raeburn Place.
The latest round of the British and Irish Cup saw London Welsh fly in to Edinburgh for the day to play the return match with Edinburgh Accies, having disposed of the local side 73-10 at their home ground.
This was never going to be a match full of open flowing rugby given the strength of the wind and eventual heavy rain sweeping over Stockbridge, but the half time score of 7-0 to London Welsh would have raised the hopes of any late arriving Accies fans. However, if they’d been there from the start, then it would have been more a case of ‘Only seven…’ as, right from the start Welsh put enormous pressure on the home side, driving them back into their 22 where they spent the majority of the half.
Although only scoring one try, by their lock Ollie Steadman from a disrupted Accies scrum, Welsh did manage to cross the try line three times, only for the referee to rule one out for a knock on and the other to award a penalty to Welsh! Accies did manage the odd foray into the visitors’ half, but they were fairly easily rebuffed and the match went back to the script. The one, very, bright note for Accies in the half was the performance of their scrum, having the Oxford side in all sorts of trouble. Only a relative lack of experience at this level prevented them from winning conclusive ball all the time.
The second half opened, along with the heavens, to a continued assault on the Accies line and five minutes was all it took for the line to be breached. Although they had a fair bit of possession it was all in their own 22, so a clearance kick was put in which didn’t go too far into the wind. Welsh kicked the ball straight back and, as a result of the chase, were eventually awarded a scrum on the five-metre line. Given the home side dominance of the scrum, even the visitors were surprised to be awarded a penalty try. An easy kick for No. 10, Will Robinson took the score to 14-0.
The third try was the result of another scrum. Again, the visitors were awarded a penalty after crossing the line, so chose to take a scrum. With the home side tiring, it was another penalty win for Welsh. First half try scorer, Steadman, took a quick tap and barged over for their third. Another successful kick, 21-0 to Welsh. They were now on the hunt for the bonus point win, but before that happened a bit of misunderstanding left Accies with a kick and chase up the field and sub, Mike Campbell won the race to the ball, managing to get in ahead of the defender to score Accies try. Iain Chisholm then converted to put Accies on the board at 21-7.
It was getting dark and windier and wetter, but with the bonus point still in the offing, London Welsh did a bit of kick-chasing of their own and were rewarded with a try in the corner from Josh Watkins. Robinson, understandably missed the kick, but the score was now 26-7. The final play of the game brought up a fifth try for the visitors. By this time Accies were almost out on their feet, but were still defending desperately, but the power of the away side won through and they scored their last, converted, try from another close in scrum to bring the final points tally to 33-7.
It was a brave attempt from Accies, but even including three Edinburgh Rugby professionals, they were under the cosh from the start of the game and, apart from their runaway try, never looked like getting close to the English Championship side. They did dominate the scrum for the most part, but the bigger Welsh forwards eventually tired them out and their only real advantage faded away. The weather also played a big part – maybe to Accies advantage – and the final try was scored as a clearing kick from deep inside the Accies 22 was blown back into the goal area forcing a deliberate foul by the home side. Accies lie at the foot of the Pool 2 table with zero points, with London Welsh one place above on 12. Looking at this does put a bit of a reality check on exactly where Scottish Club rugby lies in the grand scheme of things and, unfortunately, it really doesn’t look too good at all.
Image gallery from the match here in the next day or two….
