Exiles put off-field woe to one side with win over Doncaster
THE future may look a bit shaky for London Welsh but their players did the only thing they could to save the club yesterday - win at Old Deer Park against play-offs rivals Doncaster.
The club is set to appear at the High Court again tomorrow after a windingup order was issued against them for the third time this year.
But there isn’t much the players can do about the Exiles’ debts, believed to be in excess of £2m, so ending a successful month on the pitch by making it four wins in five games was all that mattered.
The cheer from the crowd at the end of the game suggested they witnessed a classic encounter but in truth it was more a sigh of relief after a tough week.
Aside from a moment of brilliance from young Welsh wing Kristian Phillps in the first half, the Exiles secured the win through spirited defence and the boot of Joe Carlisle rather than freeflowing rugby.
They conceded two tries from Harry Allen and Lloyd Hayes and had to defend their line until the very last second - but they held on to the delight of head coach James Buckland.
“The issues off the field have nothing to do with rugby so we tried not to allow it to affect us and do the best we can on the pitch,” he told The Rugby Paper.
“The first half was probably the most controlled we’ve been all season but Doncaster came back in the second half and put us under pressure.
“But we stuck at it and we showed a lot of character. It could have flipped either way at the end so we’re pleased we came out on the right side of the result.”
Welsh hit first through the boot of fly-half Carlisle eight minutes in and, after Doncaster’s fly-half Declan Cusack failed to level matters, it was Phillips who scored the first try of the game.
With space proving hard to find, the Welsh winger perfectly chipped and regathered to touch down in the corner making 8-0 for the hosts.
A second missed penalty from Cusack prevented Doncaster to get on the board and they trailed 11-0 at the break as Carlisle slotted his second of the game.
Doncaster showed more intent in the second half and they eventually got on the board ten minutes in as hooker Allen rumbled over following a powerful driving maul.
Cusack’s disastrous day
from the tee continued as he missed the conversion and to make matters worse Doncaster then lost their captain Richard List to the bin for a tackle without the ball on Jesse Liston.
Carlisle converted the resulting penalty and with the hour approaching, the hosts had a 14-5 lead but they put pressure on themselves with Ben Pienaar seeing yellow for killing the ball. This time Doncaster made it count with Cusack sending Hayes over to close the gap to four points.
They had one last assault at the line but Welsh found a way to keep them out to the despair of boss Clive Griffiths. He said: “Credit to London Welsh to dig deep like that after a tough week but it’s tough to take because it was taken away from us by the referee after Welsh clearly dropped the ball at the lineout.”