A New Year A New Dawn 

London Welsh v Exeter Chiefs 2^nd January 2010 

Disappointed? Yes, in fact dismayed at how easily we capitulated to Albion at Brickfields, and annoyed that we didn’t do better against Bristol.

Well with our Christmas party spoilt by 2 losses in 2 games, we could all still be crying into our beer, but no, I, for one am looking forward to our trip up to the big smoke to see the Chiefs take on London Welsh in what is bound to be another close fought game, with Welsh being known for their smothering tactics as seen at SP earlier this year.

Why?

Because that’s what rugby supporters do, they follow their club through thick and thin. So we lost 2 games. So we‘ve dropped to lowly second place in the Championship. So we’ve lost to both Bristol and our dearly beloved friends down the road. Let’s just get over it! Spare a thought for the Manchester supporters: Manchester have played 15, lost 15; have a points difference of -1368; have somehow got a points total of -2; are bottom of the league, but looked upon their 3 – 50 loss at home to Cambridge as a significant improvement. Yet they’ve still got a small band of followers.

So, let’s look for some positives: we’re second, after 15 games, behind last seasons relegated GP team, helped along with their Parachute payment; we’ve won 13 out of 15 games; we’ve the highest points for; the second lowest points against; 17 points clear of the team in third place, or 9 points ahead of Nottingham if and only if they were to win both their games in hand with a bonus point; we’re at least 28 points clear of the relegation playoffs; and with 7 games to play in part 1, that means we need only 8 points to guarantee a promotion play off place; we’ve a big talented squad, a stadium to be proud of; a brilliant average crowd with proven potential for even higher ones; and amazingly we’ve even had some compliments from both Albion and Pirates fans (is that a positive? I did also only say some!). Add that to the fact that we are still alive and breathing, we must at least a glimmer of hope and have something to look forward to in the New Year.

Looking forward to 2^nd January: what can we expect?

Probably a sore head hanging around from New Year’s Eve!

Probably more pounds to lose off our waists than we’d care to admit!

I can guarantee that we’ll have spent more of those hard earned pennies than we’d planned to, especially if the other half has had anything to do with it!

And then there’s the rugby!

London Welsh are sitting pretty in 4^th place with 9 wins from 15, 2 points behind the Pirates, having been deducted 5 points for their financial difficulties during the closed season. No one is really surprised at their current placing, having been predicted as being up in the mix at the end of the season. They’ve lost to Plymouth, Doncaster, Bedford, Bristol, and Exeter Chiefs. Of those 5 games, they’ve gained 3 bonus points and gained 5 bonus points from their wins, and its these BP’s that have greatly helped their position. However, they know have it feels, losing to Albion, having lost to them 5 weeks ago at ODP and the same could be said of their closest rivals, Bedford, having lost to them in their festive encounter at Goldington Road, with a converted try keeping them apart, but had they managed to improve on their 50% kicking rate on the day, they could have come away as winners. One of those bonus point defeats was against the Chiefs at SP, 13 - 9 where they stifled the game and defended like men possessed, in another encounter that could have gone either way.

The stats say that we haven’t lost against the Exiles in the league since January 2006, but that’s another record we don’t want to lose.

 Forget the pressure! Play with Pride and Passion! 

My prediction: London Welsh 16 – 28 Exeter Chiefs

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