RFU Championship Final Teams Announced - Welsh Must Maintain Winning Mind-Set
London Welsh kicker Gordon Ross will hope to continue the excellent form he has had all season in the final leg
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With the final match of the 2013/14 RFU Championship season tomorrow, London Welsh may take a 19-point lead into the 2nd leg of their final with Bristol, but they'll head to the Memorial Stadium next week still targeting a win.
Tries from Nathan Trevett, Nick Scott and Carl Kirwan helped Welsh to a 27-8 victory over Bristol in front of over 5000 at the Kassam Stadium on Wednesday night, with the return leg to come on June 4.
"We will be going there with the mind-set that we have to win the game,” said London Welsh head coach Justin Burnell. "That will be our focus; we've got to go and win the game.
"We've still got a long way to go – there's another leg to play. We know how good Bristol are – they're capable of scoring points.
"We're happy with the three tries and 19 points. Is 19 points enough? I'd rather be 19 points up than 19 points down.
"In hindsight we should be going there 26 points [up] - I honestly thought Nick Scott was under the posts. But at least we're in the right areas.
"It's all about next week and the preparation for us.
"We're a pretty bunch and we don't roll over. We saw that in respect to Leeds in the semi-final. Thirteen points down we were dead and buried and everyone wrote us off.
"That's one thing we have got, spirit. Aside from the 19 points we'll also be taking a lot of spirit with us [into the 2nd leg].”
The Exiles will make four changes from the side that thumped Bristol at the Kassam. In the backs, Alan Awcock starts at full back with Seb Stegmann moving to the right wing. Rhys Crane is named among the replacements.
In the forwards, Mitch Lees returns to the side at blindside flanker to make his first appearance since Welsh's win over Jersey on April 12. Richard Thorpe starts at Number 8.
London Welsh Club Captain Matt Corker makes his 199th appearance for the club.
London Welsh: 15. Alan Awcock, 14. Seb Stegmann, 13. Tom May* (C), 12. Seb Jewell, 11. Nick Scott, 10. Gordon Ross*, 9. Chris Cook, 1. Nathan Trevett, 2. Nathan Morris, 3. Peter Edwards, 4. Will Spencer, 5, Matt Corker, 6. Mitch Lees, 7. Carl Kirwan, 8. Richard Thorpe.
Replacements: 16. Nathan Vella, 17. Tom Bristow, 18. James Tideswell, 19. Ben West, 20. Ollie Stedman, 21, Rob Lewis, 22. Rhys Crane.
Bristol, on the other hand, will draw some confidence from Welsh’s previous visit to the Memorial Stadium this season saw them on the wrong end of a 25-21 scoreline on April 18. The home side led 22-0 at one stage, before Welsh finished strongly.
Andy Robinson makes four changes to the side that suffered a 27-8 defeat at the Kassam ahead of the last ever game at the Memorial Stadium.
Charlie Amesbury makes his first league start since March, while Ruki Tipuna comes into the side as skipper in place of the injured Luke Baldwin (ankle).
Gaston Cortes is named in the front row, while Mitch Eadie starts at no.8. Ryan Jones (ankle) is unavailable.
Bristol retain a four forwards and three backs split on the bench. James Grindal could make his first league appearance since February after being included in the 22-man squad.
Bristol: Jack Wallace; Charlie Amesbury, Jack Tovey, Ben Mosses, Andy Short; Nicky Robinson, Ruki Tipuna (c); Kyle Traynor, Ross Johnston, Gaston Cortes, Ben Glynn, Glen Townson, Nick Koster, Marco Mama, Mitch Eadie.
Replacements: Rhys Lawrence, James Hall, Jason Hobson, Ben Skirving, James Grindal, Adrian Jarvis, Adam Hughes.
