Burnell Praises Welsh Character

Justin Burnell praised his sides' character after London Welsh came back from 13 points down on aggregate against Leeds Carnegie, with just 12 minutes remaining, to set up a Championship final showdown with Bristol, with a place in the Premiership the prize.

Starting Sunday's semi-final 2nd leg at the Kassam Stadium seven points adrift, after their 38-31 defeat at Headingley Carnegie, the Exiles' promotion hopes appeared to have faded when Charlie Beech dived over to give the visitors a 20-14 lead, and 13-point cushion overall.

But showing a never-say-die attitude, the Exiles crossed through Seb Stegmann (converted by Gordon Ross) and Ollie Stedman, before Ross added the semi-final winning penalty two minutes from time.

"When you get two good teams it can go either way, but like I've said from day one, we're a resilient bunch,” said Burnell. "We never roll over and in that last 20 we just seemed to get better. There was no panic whatsoever.

"That's what we're about. There's a special breed here and a good mixture. We've a couple of northerners in there and a couple of Welsh lads and they've just been brought up to work hard.

"We want success, we want to be a good team, but the only way you'll get that is by rolling them sleeves up and punching your guts out.”

It had been a mixed day with the boot for Welsh fly half Ross before he stood over that 78th minute penalty, but Burnell had confidence in his assistant coach.

"He's a quality player; everyone has a bad day. You don't get 30-odd international caps and play for the length he has with Saracens, Leeds and Castres….he was always going to kick it. People around me were asking 'should he kick for the corner?'” he said.

Welsh now face Bristol in a two-legged final, starting with the 1st leg back at the Kassam onWednesday 28th May (kick-off 7:45pm) before they head to the Memorial Stadium seven days later.

"We knew what we had to do today – seven points – and now it's all back here for the 1st leg against Bristol, which is exciting. It's going to be interesting - we can't wait,” added Burnell.

"And what a fantastic atmosphere there was today. It was good to see the stadium come to life. When we rocked up to see all the kids outside enjoying themselves just goes to prove what we can achieve in Oxford.”