London Welsh
Worcester Warriors v London Welsh Preview
By Mark W-J
February 10 2011
The Championship structure has many critics and very few supporters, but with just two rounds of fixtures remaining there are only three clubs who know for sure which of the three play-off pools they will compete in. Our hosts this Saturday, Worcester, are confirmed as top seeds in Pool A, while the other two Midlands clubs, Bees and Moseley, are both consigned to the relegation battle in Pool C.
London Welsh’s last-gasp win over Bedford last weekend saw us overtake Cornish Pirates in third place following their 13-12 defeat at our near neighbours, Esher. Yet as one challenge is overcome, so another, potentially more threatening one presents itself. When the Warriors came to Old Deer Park at the start of November they were sitting at the top of the table, but had just surrendered their 100% record to the Cornish Pirates. At that stage they had collected 43 points from the opening ten rounds of fixtures, and sat seven points clear of Bedford, Pirates and Welsh. Their next ten fixtures, however, have yielded 49 points, with that visit to Richmond being the only occasion in the last three months that they’ve failed to collect a bonus point win. As a consequence, top spot in the table was secured with their 33-30 win at the Mennaye a fortnight ago.
To say that Sixways hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for the Welsh is a bit of an understatement; despite a 28-13 victory on our first visit in October 1997 in the old Jewson National League One (Level 3 of the pyramid) we’ve lost every meeting with Worcester since – 14 games in all, eight at home and six away. In their last four seasons in National One before winning promotion to the Premiership in 2004 the aggregate scoreline was an incredible 261-42, with Welsh registering only ten penalties and just two tries in eight games – Richard Griffiths and Lee Starling both scoring in a 35-12 away defeat on 22nd February 2003. When Josh Drauniniu crossed in the 46th minute of our meeting in November it was the first time we’d scored a try against Worcester at ODP since a brace from Andy Currier on 2nd October 1999.
But the result in the autumn suggested that the teams of 2010 are much more evenly matched, Welsh collecting a losing bonus point in a thrilling 33-29 away win. That the decisive try game from a trademark Marcel Garvey interception didn’t fool anyone into thinking that we were unlucky – much like England in Cardiff last Friday, the visitors took their chances when they were presented, and looked like they had plenty in reserve should their hosts dare to threaten their superiority. But since that encounter they’ve developed a cutting edge which wasn’t evident in the early autumn, as the record of nine bonus point wins indicates. Second-placed Bedford, who last Saturday became the first team to score four tries in the league against Welsh this season, were swept aside 32-0 at Sixways a month ago.
Since the start of the year Bedford, Pirates and Welsh - the three teams who had pulled away from the chasing pack in early autumn in pursuit of Worcester – have lost a total of eight of their 13 league matches. Admittedly two have been against the Warriors, and Bedford have lost at both Pirates and Welsh, but for those two clubs to have both lost at Rotherham as well as at relegation threatened Esher (Pirates) and Bristol (ourselves) suggests that the pressure is starting to tell.
This Sunday sees Nottingham visit the Mennaye, and after last night’s 40-15 victory over Doncaster the Green & Whites still have a top three finish in their sights. A run of six consecutive wins, including five try bonus points, was brought to an abrupt halt at Bedford a fortnight ago, and a 38-26 defeat at home to Worcester last weekend looked to have stopped their march to the top four. But another five point haul against the Knights means that they now sit only seven points behind Welsh and Pirates, the two teams who they face in their remaining fixtures. We’ll be praying for a draw on Sunday.
In the bottom half of the table, Plymouth, Bristol and Esher are scrapping for the eighth and final promotion play-off place. The two west country clubs meet at the Memorial Stadium on Sunday, and as both clubs are unable to claim the full 10 points from their remaining two games, Rotherham’s place in the top eight is already assured. A home win for Paul Hull’s team would guarantee them at least 8th place, and many of the London Welshmen who journeyed down the M4 a fortnight ago have identified them as a potential dark horse in the play-offs. The worst case scenario for Welsh would arguably be to finish 4th, and to face Worcester, Nottingham and Bristol in Pool A, yet after last weekend’s results we should probably be approaching the End of Part One with a bit more optimism. A win at Sixways on Saturday? Now that’s being maybe too optimistic.
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Stumbleupon10/02/2011 13:44
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Now i wasn't there so i can't comment on his views. However, at 39 points to 3 before we started to play you would have to agree with what he has told me. he said we only started to play when Worcester put on their subs. PADDYTAF
That we would beat Worcester ,at home, today ?
2) the attitude that prevails in the previous comment That they only put their subs on to make it look good for
Us is an insult to every team that they have played this season. If you were that good last year you wouldn't have
Been playing us this year so don't be so bloody high and mighty
Having watched the match the truth was that for 55 minutes Arr and Goode ran the show for Worcester.
When Frost and Carlisle came on they weren't able to exert the same control and allowed your dangerous backs into the game.
Fortunately for us the win had long gone as far as Welsh were concerned as what followed was rather similar to what happened in the last 20 minutes at Meadow lane.
Fact, Wuss are 20 points clear at the top
Fact, most sides struggle to compete with our first choice fifteen.
Fact our back-up players are not of the same standard.
Fact We have definitely improved since we got rid of Ruddock.
Enjoy the rest of your season and we'll see you in the play-offs,
"It was at Old Deer Park that I felt we put together our first complete 40-minute performance of the season as a quality first half saw us control the game ... In recent fixtures .. we have shown we have moved on and produced 60-minute performances ...Today's match .. we need to concentrate for the entire game."
Indeed so, and they did dominate first half with gusto, patchily for the next 20 minutes and totally fell asleep towards the end. Setting aside any connections with bookies from the sub-continent, I almost thought the 3rd and 4th tries were gifted to us to give us the bonus point, so as to fix who else would be in the same play-off group as Worcester. Now why would they want us rather than Nottingham, Cornish P or Bedford? Maybe I am just a conspiracy theorist.
Anyway, to sum up, we had difficulty in breaking through except when we did! And we held them out most of the game except when we didn't.
Sixways is an impressive complex and is the first big ground I have visited that had a fairly good balance between the necessary commercial aspects and the feeling of a rugby club. Miles ahead of the Stoop and Franklin Gardens in that respect.
An enjoyable day out, our own little area after the match to watch SvW and a social, but not very tuneful, journey home.
Quote:nld
Goode really is a class act, head and shoulders above every other 10 in this league. Worcs did tail off later in the game, exactly as they did in the match at Notts last week.
Sixways is an impressive complex and is the first big ground I have visited that had a fairly good balance between the necessary commercial aspects and the feeling of a rugby club. Miles ahead of the Stoop and Franklin Gardens in that respect.
An enjoyable day out, our own little area after the match to watch SvW and a social, but not very tuneful, journey home.
How dare you?!!
Personally I blame the back row, they just couldn't hold a note.
Not a bad set-up at Sixways, just a pity so many supporters didn't realise the match was on upstairs (despite the posters). There was some interest in the Saes match being replayed, but hardly anyone stayed downstairs and in the other bar for all of it.
I also heard that there were queues for the gents' loos before, at half time and after the match. It wasn't even a full stadium, what's happening there?>
What really, really wound me up (as always) was the post-score music, the imbecilic chants and the inability for some supporters to politely applaud opposition scores. Oh, and our least-favourite ref, Ap.
(I wasn't going to mention the yellow but...
) 
Wasn't aware of any queues for toilets dring or after the game nor were there queues at the bars or for food during the match (on the Club House side).
Quote:.....running scared.....running scared.....Tythingrun
Fact, Wuss are 20 points clear at the top
Fact, most sides struggle to compete with our first choice fifteen.
Fact our back-up players are not of the same standard.
Fact We have definitely improved since we got rid of Ruddock.
I wanted to check my curious delusion that the ref who wore yellow second half but was in pink first half, but mysteriously he does not appear in any of the 28 photos and must have been close to the action but just, just out of shot.
As to "the imbecilic chants and the inability for some supporters to politely applaud opposition scores" this is not unknown now in rugby. But from where I sat our tries were applauded (softly) and the chants from the tall side were no worse than many I hear. Reality is that Sixways is a decent sized ground now that still has all the feel of a rugby club, which is harder to achieve than at first appears (witness Headingly, the Memorial Ground which doesn't pull it off, i.m.h.o., likewise Cov's new place, as opposed to Albion's, Doncaster's, Newbury's now heading bellywards, and Exeter). Though Sixway's parking is quite something and it's a @#$%& to get to from Worcs town centre.
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