London Scottish vs Esher

Preview: (From the LSFC website) "This coming Saturday sees London Scottish take on their close rivals Esher, in what promises to be an exciting and feisty encounter, in one which the fireworks are sure to fly as it is bonfire night. With both sides being in the bottom four of the Championship, Scottish will be determined to come out on top and record their third home victory of the campaign.Related Multimedia
Share The fixture on Saturday is the third match to be played this season between the teams so far, with honours even to date. The first encounter saw Scottish over come Esher in a pre-season friendly 13 -15 at Molesey Road as both sides were ramping up their preparations for the forth coming campaign. Esher gained revenge in the British & Irish Cup when they overcame Scottish 43 -10 again at Molesey Road as both sides gave their wider squads game time.

Saturday will see the first league fixture between the clubs since mid January 2010 when the clubs last locked horns with the Surrey outfit taking the spoils 15 - 38 in a National league 1 fixture. It is interesting to look at the teams who turned out for their respective clubs and it clearly highlights the transient nature of club rugby in the higher echelons of the club game in England. For Scottish, only Gary Trueman, James Brown, Ben Lonergan and Head Coach Simon Amor remain at the club from the list players in the match programme. For Esher the change is even more noticeable with only back row Sam Stitcher and hooker Kevin Corrigan listed in their match day squad for their last Championship match against Doncaster Knights last weekend. The Esher side in the January 2010 fixture contained a number of dual registered players from Harlequins who have gone onto be regulars in the Harlequins team, with prop Joe Marler and Sam Smith turning out in the in Harlequins 19 -13 defeat of Exeter Chiefs last Saturday.

On to the match on Saturday: who should the Scottish supporters look out for in the current Esher team? Diminutive winger Sam Edgerley has been staring for team and has recently been training with the England Sevens squad and provides the club with a potential try scorer in every match with an amazing turn of speed. Unfortunately, Canadian internationalist centre Phil McKenzie was concussed in the match with Doncaster and has been ruled out of the fixture. Other outstanding players in the Esher team are number 8 Mike MacFarlane who moved to the club over the summer from Loughborough Students. The home Scottish supporters will have their first opportunity to see the new backline in operation, which includes the exciting centre pairing of Guy Armitage and Elliot Daly who excelled in the second half of last weekend's thriller at Nottingham. Argentinean winger Augustin Gosio will be looking to make it a hat trick of tries, as he has already bagged two already in his two previous outings for the club.

The game on Saturday will be a tough and uncompromising challenge for Scottish, as Esher will be looking to break their losing record in the Championship and achieve their first league win of the season. For Scottish they can take heart from their performances so far and when the errors are eliminated they can produce some scintillating play, as demonstrated in the second half of last weekend's narrow defeat away at Nottingham. Given the proximity of the clubs, there promises to be a large crowd at the Richmond Athletic Ground and all Scottish supporters are encouraged to get down to the ground and cheer on the team. Another victory on Saturday will close the gap on those teams above them in the league table and further league points gained. C'mon Scottish! See you all there."

Best of luck to LS this weekend, pleased to see they have enlisted some exciting new recruits.

fES, come on down, I'm taking my wee lad and Kiwi Pete - this is a must win fixture for Scottish and I'm expecting a big display in front of the home crowd

I'll be there. Big game for both. First time I'll get a chance to see the new Argentinian recruits for Scottish. And London Welsh two weeks after. Anyone fancy Llanelli in the B&I Cup in between .... ?

C'mon Scottish !

Converter, sadly am away for those game, but will definitely be at the Melrose B&I Cup game just before Christmas

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:fES, come on down, I'm taking my wee lad and Kiwi Pete - this is a must win fixture for Scottish and I'm expecting a big display in front of the home crowd

Sorry ASBO, only just seen you were going. Hope it was a good game.

32-17 TBP victory doesn't really tell the full story, cos Esher put up one helluva fight. The first 30 mins were scrappy, penalties traded, as both sides struggled to obtain dominance. Scottish's first try breakthrough came after a period of sustained pressure, when young England hopeful (dual registered with Wasps) Elliot Daly broke thru to touch down. 8-3 at half-time. Scottish's injured 9 and head coach Simon Amor had the nous at half-time to point out their set-piece dominance, which the Exiles used to far greater effect from then on. Daly was replaced by another up&coming English youngster, Guy Armitage, dual-registered with London Irish and the third of the brothers, but aside from displaying a hunger, he had little time with the ball in hand to do too much damage. Esher came out of the traps slightly stronger and pressurised Scottish into a mistake in their own 22 with a nice run in for a try. The Scottish pack finally made use of their dominance and Esher's hooker departed the scene for an enforced 10-min rest, during which time Lewis Calder and the ref (penalty try) both scored. Calder looked all of his heritage as he found himself in a position that both his dad and his uncle would have been proud of, right on the shoulder of sub 10 Mugford to convert his break. Esher struck back for a score, but Exiles's bench players Meeks and Howells combined for a finishing try to put the outcome well beyond Esher.

All-in-all a fine afternoon out, entertaining bufty comments ("ship it wide" at every opportunity!), excellent company in none other than our resident Kiwi admin, and the best Scotch pies that money can buy in London

Hoooooowwwwwwwweeeeeeeeeeelllllllllllllsssssssssyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Sounds like a good game As. Did the wee fella enjoy himself?

Chips, copious apple juice & Kiwi's company? What's not to like?! Yup, grand afternoon out.

Indeed. Great afternoon out, and well summarised As

Well done Scottish, and I'm glad you guys had a good day out.

I should be at the Exiles derby on 19th with a few pals from Ealing if any London based * 606ers fancy a meet up. Two great London clubs in league action against each other for the first time in a while.

* or anyone who fancies travelling into London.

Hound_of_Harrow wrote:Well done Scottish, and I'm glad you guys had a good day out.

I should be at the Exiles derby on 19th with a few pals from Ealing if any London based * 606ers fancy a meet up. Two great London clubs in league action against each other for the first time in a while.

* or anyone who fancies travelling into London.

Sounds like a great idea Hound, I should be there for it.

Very good second half performance from LS. Although the England U-20 Daly scored a great try (and looks the real deal) I was surprised when he received the MOTM for playing one half ! It could easily have gone to any of the front row, or, IMHO, Anthony Andrews, the blindside.

When I think back two years to playing Esher in National 1, they now look a shadow of that team, sadly.

And the half-time pie is now firmly established !!

I shall be there at the Exiles game too.

Kiwi - I'll let you know the arrangements nearer the time. We'll either meet in Ealing or Richmond.

Converter, if you fancy a jar before the game send me a PM.