By Mark W-J
March 22 2012

After two rounds of the play-offs, London Welsh now face back-to-back fixtures against Doncaster, who are firmly rooted to the bottom of Pool A and almost certainly out of the running for the knockout stages.  Yet some of our worst performances this season have come against the so-called ‘weaker’ teams, and we can’t afford to let standards slip following last week’s outstanding efforts at Bristol.

We’ve played at the Memorial Stadium twice this season, and on both occasions we’ve returned with two points - something which we’d gladly have accepted before kick-off.  And yet on both occasions we’ve let the lead slip with the last play of the match, and have felt a sense of frustration at an opportunity missed, although, to be fair, no real sense of injustice.  Of course the travelling supporters were buoyed by events in Cardiff on Saturday, and even the sight of a former London Welshman - Matt Jones, once memorably described as ‘our best signing since Chris Ritchie’ - stealing victory from the Exiles’ grasp couldn’t put a dampener on the weekend.  This weekend we entertain a Doncaster side who have struggled to find their spark in the opening rounds of the play-offs, suffering their biggest ever home defeat in league rugby on the opening weekend when Bristol ran in nine tries in a 65-3 rout, surpassing the 45-0 scoreline when Harlequins visited Castle Park six years ago.  The two sides had also met at the Mem on the final weekend of the regular season, the home side crossing just the seven times en route to a 52-26 victory.  Last Sunday at Meadow Lane Donny again mustered just a single penalty as Nottingham ran out 30-3 winners, and they consequently find themselves five points adrift of the Green & Whites at the foot of the pool.

As the south-east enjoys a mini-heatwave and awaits the forthcoming hosepipe ban, our visitors can be fairly confident that the game will at least go ahead on Saturday following the debacle surrounding their last visit.  London Welsh were portrayed as the villains when the original game was postponed barely an hour before the scheduled kick-off, but the club had been let down by the RFU-appointed official who declared that the pitch was playable 24 hours earlier when it was obvious to anyone who lives or works within a 10 mile radius of Richmond that this was never going to be the case.  The management and officials at the club often get criticised by the supporters, but on this occasion they did everything by the book, and the scorn and vitriol which was directed at the club on various internet boards really should have been targeted at another organisation just up the A316.  When the game was finally played at the third time of asking - on a Wednesday afternoon, at the behest of that organisation just up the A316 - Welsh picked up a bonus point in a 37-14 victory.  It should also be pointed out that Doncaster were forced to play the game on the Wednesday despite being scheduled to play their final league encounter at Bristol on the Friday night, which undoubtedly contributed to the apparently one-sided encounter down the M4.

Last month’s game was Welsh’s seventh consecutive win over the Knights, our best current run against any of our Championship rivals.  Their last win in the series was on 31^st October 2009, when winger Matt Williams inspired them to a 20-9 win at ODP, although when they visited last season they fought back to earn a losing bonus point in a 29-24 defeat having trailed 29-3 at the break.  And while Doncaster have yet to make it to the knockout stages of the play-offs they pushed Bedford every inch of the way last year, winning 33-31 at Goldington Road and only being eliminated by virtue of the three points which the Blues carried forward from the regular season as top seeds in Pool B.  Many coaches have played the ‘no easy matches in the Championship’ card over the course of the last three seasons - and that was one of the key reasons for culling four teams, to remove the weaker sides and reduce the number of mismatches - and, in theory at least, the same maxim is even more applicable to the play-offs.  Despite their poor showing in the opening two rounds, Doncaster will always provide a stern test, and - to use another cliché - no team can afford to look beyond next weekend.  Having collected two points at Bristol to maintain a decent gap over third-placed Nottingham the London Welsh fans might be excused for mentally calculating the potential outcomes from the next two weekends, with the Exiles facing an apparently demoralised Doncaster and Bristol keen to show Nottingham that last Sunday’s result was merely a blip, an aberration.  But in this six match ‘season within a season’ it only takes one bad result to turn all of the permutations and expectations on their head.  A case in point would be the Pirates, who are showing definite signs of being rattled following a home draw with Leeds and a last-gasp defeat at Bedford in Pool B, with Forwards Coach Ian Davies openly criticising the officials - and being publicly backed by his chairman - following last weekend’s reverse.  So let’s enjoy being unbeaten after two rounds, but not take our eye off the immediate challenges ahead.  One game at a time, boys - one game at a time…