1st XV match reports

London Scottish 14  Ealing 8

London Scottish moved clear at the top of the table after this momentous win left them the only side still unbeaten side.

In the end Scottish fully deserved to be the first to defeat their West London neighbours this season, but for most of the match a Scottish win was by no means the likely outcome. Ealing, having won at Richmond and at Worthing, arrived if anything as slight favourites. And when Scottish, behind to David Essien’s 28^th minute try, then lost Melvyn Lewis to a red card before the break, the outlook was not good.

Yet as if the incident galvanised the home side, a combination of heroic Scots defence and Ealing's own poor decision-making meant they would not manage to score again.

Till then, Scottish had struggled at times to cope with the intensity of Ealing’s game. With Essien the best player on the park, Ealing had more get up and go at the breakdown, and looked the more penetrative side. Scottish seemed still to be feeling their way against the first really strong side they had faced this season, moving the ball sideways and back but not looking likely to frighten Ealing with anything more direct.

Ealing thus merited the lead they established in that half hour. True, the Scots had led early when Jamie Whelan slotted a penalty from 25m, though not before the on-field think tank had considered the option of kicking to touch. But Ealing were level when Ben Ward punished an already harsh call, referee Andrew Gaynor penalising the Scots for coming through a ruck when the ball was clearly already out; it was not Mr Gaynor’s first poor decision, and there were plenty more to surprise both sides.

Almost from the restart he denied Scottish an attacking scrum 30m out when Essien collided with a team-mate and was accidentally offside, and looked surprised to be allowed to carry on. Thus the Scots instead found themselves beating a swift retreat as Ealing attacked, but they recovered and cleared.

At the next opportunity, Ward was penalised for hands in a ruck, and Whelan had a chance to put the Scots ahead again; but though the kick was pretty straight, the breeze was not, and the ball drifted wide.

Then Scottish suffered again when Alex Alesbrook, attempting to rescue a poor lineout throw, was pulled away before he could gather the ball, but again no action was taken.

By now, Scottish were looking less than comfortable. Ealing were being held off by terrific midfield defence, with Whelan, Jerry Costeloe, Josh Heke and Rory Greenslade-Jones all outstanding in getting up to make first-up tackles, a defining feature of the entire game, but Scottish at this stage looked toothless with ball in hand.

A score for the visitors seemed inevitable, but Scottish will still rue the manner of it. First Costeloe had to leave for treatment to a head wound, necessitating Ross Yiend to appear on the wing, Charles Broughton to go to full back and Peel to come up to 10. The disruption to the defensive pattern nearly cost Scottish when only a saving tackle at the line forced Leighton Norman into touch.

Scottish however not only then failed to clear their lines; they conceded a penalty, and then another and a yellow card for Rowan Brown, from which Ealing’s eight-on-seven line-out drive forced the ball over, Essien being the one to come up clutching it.

Ward missed the conversion fro the sideline, but the Scots position did not improve. A good spell of possession by the 14 of Scottish failed to find a gap, and though a penalty was forced, the call was to kick it to touch.

Now disaster struck. Scottish appeared to win the ball cleanly, set up the ruck and then attacked at second phase but Essien hauled Lewis away from the play despite neither man having the ball; Lewis appeared to lash out with elbow and head as he tried to wriggle free, Essien, who had seemed perfectly robust in the previous 37 minutes, now dropped as if shot. Mr Gaynor, who was only a yard or two away, had little hesitation – yellow for the Ealing scorer and red for the Scottish prop.

However, at the point where Ealing should have built on their lead, playing 14 against 13 as Brown was still to come back, it was Scottish who collectively stepped up the pace and the intensity. Brown was soon back, only to be replaced again almost immediately when Scottish needed Matt Johnston on to prop at a scrum. But Essien bizarrely was sidelined for a full 13 minutes and Ealing lost their way.

Scottish used the time to grab a lead they were not to relinquish. First came their only try. Intense Scots pressure should have brought a score before it eventually did. Though the plan was clearly to keep the ball tight and not risk being outnumbered out wide, nevertheless Heke and Greenslade-Jones both ignored big overlaps and the vain cries of Broughton and Matt Vines who had looped round.

But when it did come the score was worth the wait and perhaps the timing on the stroke of half-time made all the difference. If thus far Scottish had mainly attacked by kicking long but moving the ball sidewise, now Peel changed tack. Fielding a kick out on the left and just inside the Ealing half, he ran the ball straight back at the advancing green shirts, and found an easier than expected way through. Though halted well short of the line the momentum Peel had injected meant Scottish could recycle quickly and work the ball over to the right where Vines had looped round to collect and cross the line.

Whelan again couldn’t read the line, the kick drifting across the goal, but as the Scots trotted in for half time at 8-8 the belief was evident.

From the restart, Scottish now started to take the ball up at every opportunity, with Alesbrook leading her charge from the front. Somehow the Scots soaked up huge pressures at the scrum from Ealing’s extra man, and Mr Gayford seemed content to let the home pack wriggle out of trouble, perhaps taking the view that Ealing were doing themselves no favours by endlessly wheeling the home scrum when the extra weight would surely have been best used to drive straight.

Nevertheless the Scots were twice frustrated as long distance driving mauls came to a bad end, when one of their number was adjusted to have peeled off and rejoined from the side. But with Alesbrook from the base of the scrum, and Peel when he came from deep, both making ground every time they had possession, the Scots were more often than not on the front foot.

The key score though came from Heke’s interception in midfield. He burst into the Ealing half, and earned a penalty 30m out for a ruck offence. Whelan’s kick towards the Triple Crown end was dead straight. Scottish were ahead, but there was still a long way to go and at times even the players eyes were drawn to the big digital clock.

Still the immense defensive concentration did not waver, and even when Greenslade-Jones and Heke were jointly penalised for not releasing a tackled player, Ward reprieved them by missing the kick at goal.

Then Scottish thought they had scored when Peel fielded a high ball and once again ran it back at the visitors before releasing Yiend – now on for Vines – for a long dash to the line. He got there but only to find the visitors’ touch judge ruling he had crossed the line 30m back.

By now though Scottish were pretty much in control, despite the lineout malfunctioning with five or six losses on their own throw, and the numerical disadvantage only showed at the set scrum as the home pack had to fight to clean their own ball. Even periodic spats between the forwards which Mr Gaynor failed to do anything about did not blur their focus.

Scottish also looked much the more potent side in attack. Twice Broughton was brought into play and twice threatened to cause havoc, the second time Ealing only averting the danger by again taking men out off the ball before a ruck had formed. Scottish looked aghast at conceding a penalty instead of gaining one.

But the young winger’s next intervention was a long raking run up the middle of the pitch to set up the drive from which they won the penalty. Critically, the offence earned Essien a second yellow card and therefore a red; his departure as Whelan extended the lead to six points, was surely the moment when the Scots had the game won.

There were, though, nine minutes of normal time still to play and, as it turned out, almost another five to be added on.

For most of that time Scottish, the hungrier side, looked increasingly comfortable, with Ward unable to come up with a new plan, and with the Ealing pack clearly less menacing in Essien’s absence.

Not that there wasn’t time for a long two minutes of agony for the home supporters as the clock hit 40 minutes and beyond.

For once, Scottish missed a tackle. It seemed unlikely to be critical since the visitors were at the time clearing their lines after Costeloe’s line kick had driven them back 50 metres. But the speedy Howard took advantage to race away, and as the support caught up with him, six Ealing attackers crossed halfway facing only three home defenders. The converted try Ealing needed to snatch victory would surely come … but no, not for the first time the visitors' backline collectively took the wrong options, first slowing the play when speed would have killed off the Scots, and then electing to go diagonally for the corner where Howard, trying to finish what he started, was bundled into touch by Yiend.

There was more to come. Scottish again failed to clear their lines from the lineout. Conceding a penalty, which was kicked straight back into touch, they had to hold off the Ealing drive; this they did illegally, but from the next drive attempt Scottish somehow wrestled the ball clear and Costeloe fired it upfield.

Whelan then offended at the next breakdown – and copped yet another yellow card. But from the penalty Ealing failed to create: with a huge effort, Scottish forced them back and sideways at each phase until at the last Alesbrook turned the ball over and won a penalty for the Scots. Costeloe booted the ball happily into touch and Mr Gaynor at least earned plaudits by blowing for time.

Afterwards, the Scots looked quietly satisfied with what they had achieved. This was an immense win against a good side, and against the odds, but in the end their fitness told, the tactics were right and the execution was near perfect. Now they have to go to Worthing and do it all again next week. Ealing meanwhile will wonder how they failed to score in all that time when they had a man advantage.

Paul McFarland

note: the above views are those of the writer and do not constitute official club opinion

photos of the game - Ealing have uploaded a dozen or so photos of the game to the website

click here

you have to register to view but there are some good ones.

London Scottish

15. Stuart Peel
14. Charles Broughton
13. Rory Greenslade-Jones
12. Josh Heke
11. Matt Vines (Ross Yiend 40)
10. Jerry Costeloe
9. Jamie Whelan
1. Jim Kelly
2. Stuart Silvester
3. Melvyn Lewis
4. Ben Butler
5. Lee Soper
6. Simon Devane (David Ramsay 60)
7. Rowan Brown (Matt Johnson 39)
8. Alex Alesbrook(c)

Scorers: