Brave Exiles show fighting spirit but can’t catch Pirates

THE crowd at the RAG yesterday was treated to an absolute festival of rugby. Nine tries spread across the two sides and a game that went down to the last minute.

London Scottish showed that they have plenty of fight left in them going into the final run of games.

Pirates started the game the stronger and fed off Scottish ill-discipline which led to two early tries from Will Trewin and Will Crane. The latter game off the back of a string of strong mauls that Scottish defended excellently throughout the day but the prowess of Pirates in that area eventually shone though.

After a tough first quarter, the Exiles fought back to bring themselves right back into the game. Luke Mehson scored a stunning intercept from under his own posts, showing impressive speed to go the length of the pitch.

Cameron Anderson then followed up with one of his own as the Exiles built the phases brilliantly in the Pirates third.

However, Harry Bazelgette, who proved to be the thorn in London Scottish’s side, put the away side back in front just before the break with an expert penalty. One of six successful kicks for the fly-half.

Pirates once again came out of the blocks the faster after the break. AJ Cant dotted down after a long period of pressure. Scottish came straight back and scored back-to-back tries through Mehson again then Billy Wara.

Pirates though would not go away and secured their bonus point try after a brilliant bullocking run from Ollie Adkins and Bazelgette slotted another penalty to draw the game out of Scottish’s reach.

A last gasp final try from Mehson was important for Scottish as it secured their second bonus point and cut the gap at the bottom of the table to eight points from 11th place Richmond.

There was no time for the restart after Nathan Chamberlain slotted his touchline conversionand Pirates held on as overall their composure in the key moments of the game proved the difference.

Scottish director of rugby Bryan Redpath said: “I’m immensely proud of the boys. We showed what we are about and took a great side right to the edge. On another day we would have won that one. It makes us excited for the next few weeks ahead.”