London Welsh - What a battle!

Friday 20 July 2012

This season's RFU Championship saw London Welsh promoted to the Aviva Premiership for the first time in their history after beating Cornish Pirates in both legs of their final. However, their triumph was hard to secure as they were told just hours before the first leg of the final, that they did not meet minimum standards criteria set down by English rugby's Professional Game Board for entry to the Premiership.

One area in particular that they fell down on was that they did not have primacy of tenure at the ground where they were to play at next season, Oxford United's Kassam Stadium. One factor on London Welsh's side was that they were not the only side in the Aviva Premiership to not enjoy primacy of tenure. The likes of London Irish, Sale Sharks and London Wasps were all in similar situations at the time. The Dragons appealed the decision which was originally laid down by an independent panel of three with the above factor heavily influencing the final verdict. Fortunately for them, their appeal was successful with the panel explaining that the decision to uphold their appeal, would not remove the exemption enjoyed by clubs already in the Premiership who do not have primacy of tenure. With that, London Welsh were promoted at the expense of Newcastle Falcon's.

When we asked the London Welsh Head Coach, Lyn Jones, about the feeling of promotion, he said, "I am delighted for the club, they asked me for help. I help they can remain in the division as it is a big step for us. Keeping on top of off field affairs will help create stability within the club. Promotion is massive for us; it will help us bring in extra revenue for the club.

The promotion is quite a contrast for London Welsh, considering they went into administration only three years ago. At the time, they were quoted as saying that they only had enough money to last one more month but they were rescued by Red Dragon Rugby Limited. Getting into the Aviva Premiership is by no means an easy feat, as Jones told us, and he has gone about shaping his squad for the season ahead by bringing in a number of players who have experience in the top flight.

He said, "We need to make ourselves competitive for this season. We understand and appreciate that there is a lot more to come. This season we will start to play at a different level. Once we have an understanding of the levels of speed and physicality needed at this level we should be fine. From that, we should be able to compete at this level.

The most high profile acquisition to his squad is Wales international Gavin Henson who makes Welsh his fifth club in two years. The move reunites Henson with the former Ospreys coach, under whom he won two Celtic League titles (2005 and 2007) during their five-year spell. Although Henson has had quite a turbulent few seasons, Jones is by far the best person to tame the 30-year-old and unleash his skill and ability on the pitch. As proven in the past, Henson has got the qualities of a world-class player and this switch should be a good springboard to reigniting his career for the right reasons.

Another smart purchase at the back by Jones has to be Tom Arscott, formerly of Worcester Warriors. The 24-year-old has a decent amount of experience in the Aviva Premiership, making 36 appearances and scoring 80 points during his time at Sixways. In his time there, the versatile back also helped them win promotion back to the Premiership in 2010/11. This shows that Arscott is a definite try scorer who should put points on the board for Welsh and always be a dangerous player to the opposition like Henson. Others that the Head Coach has brought in include Esher's Phil Mackenzie, Bath scrum half Matt Keyte, Leeds Carnegie forward Ed Williamson, versatile forward Daniel Browne and hooker Gareth Evans, who all have a varying degree of experience in the top flight. The Oxford based club have also been rumoured with the signing of Tom Voyce, a man with huge knowledge playing in the division with Gloucester and London Wasps. If they can secure Voyce, it would be the makings of a pretty solid back line along with Welsh fly half Alex Davies and the ever dependable Matt Corker. This could be a team with the potential to stay in the division.

Jones's outfit have been handed a very tough opening two games, with Leicester Tigers at home on the opening weekend followed by a trip to the Stoop to face champions Harlequins. The former Neath Head Coach said, "We have a fair idea of the challenge that is in front of us. We have Leicester Tigers and Harlequins in our first two games and they are the best sides in England and possibly in Europe so they will be tough challenges. For us, survival in the league is critical and will be extremely difficult . Through personal opinion Welsh will be battling to avoid the drop with Bath and London Wasps, and will need to approach every game as if it is a final. What's more the added pressures of Stade Francais, Grenoble and I Cavalieri Prato in the Amlin Cup will only make their job even harder.