London Welsh win JP Morgan 7s Pool B
By Dragons' Den
July 20 2012
A matter of weeks after achieving victory in the appeal hearing it was time for London Welsh to take to the field for their first Premiership action. The JP Morgan 7s provided the competion with Welsh placed in Pool B together with Sale, Northampton and Leicester. Dragons' Den finds that it is not just the opponents that are new!
Welsh turned out in red shirts with a white stripe running vertically up the front and back. It wasn’t just the shirts that were unfamiliar as only one of the squad, Michael Hills, was a London Welsh player.
1. Ben Seru
2. Gerhard Vessells
3. Tom Rees
4. Iolo Evans
5. Michael Hills (Capt)
6. Peceli Nacamavuto
7. Aaron Myers
8. Rhys Howells
9. Ed Tellwright
10. Chris Banfield
11. Rhodri McAtee
12. Geraint Walsh
London Welsh v Sale
Banfield opened the scoring for the Premiership newcomers and the conversion gave an early seven point lead. This was quickly followed by a fine try by Seru who hugged the touchline as he made a solo break from deep to score in the corner. Amesbury countered for Sale but the conversion was missed. Welsh managed to retain the ball from the restart and Seru’s second try of the match gave the Exiles a 19-5 half time lead.
Sale started the second half one player down due to a yellow card and Welsh capitalised on this advantage with Michael Hills scoring out wide. The hosts hadn’t given up and two further tries and conversions took the score to 24-19 with two minutes remaining. Welsh closed the game out keeping ball in hand after a penalty and it Banfield who touched down under the posts. The conversion made it 31-19 at full time.
London Welsh v Northampton
London Welsh took the field hoping to extend their unbeaten run since achieving Premiership status! Northampton had also won in the first round of matches and started this match after a very short turnaround from their 26-24 victory over Leicester.
Banfield once again opened the scoring and by the time the match was 3 minutes old Myers had added a further five points with the 50th try of the tournament. A penalty gave Welsh the chance to move the ball quickly and this time it was Tellwright that crossed the line. The easy conversion made it 17-0 at half time.
The second half was brought to life with an brilliant individual run from Tom Rees who started from his on 22 and scored in the corner. Banfield’s try increased the lead to 27-7 before Woolford countered for Saints. The final try of the match was scored by Seru and the conversion added as the clock ticked into the last minute. Final score 34-7.
London Welsh v Leicester
Leicester faced Welsh with only a the briefest of rest periods after their heavy defeat against Sale (50-15). A win for the players in London Welsh shirts would guarantee that they win the pool and go through to the final at Bath. Defeat and they may be nervously watching the final game of the night but it would require them to be on the wrong end of a cricket score.
It wasn’t a great start for London Welsh as they put the kick-off straight into touch. They soon made up for this mistake and patient play eventually found a gap in the Tigers’ defence to allow Tellwright to touch down. The conversion was added. Tellwright scored his second try of the match moments later and Welsh looked comfortable and had a 12-0 lead. Bellack used his pace to avoid Welsh tackles and give Leicester their first points of the game but just before the halftime whistle Tellwright completed his hat-trick to close the half 19-5.
Try number four for Tellwright within the first minute of the second half and the simple conversion was slotted over. Slick handling and footwork gifted Wessells the space to cross the line under the posts and the conversion gave an 18 point lead. Seru was the next to score after gathering a loose ball that bounced between two Tigers players. He nearly added another but was brought down just short but a couple of passes later and it was former London Welsh youth player McAtee that had the easiest of run-ins. The final try of the game, and London Welsh’s 19th of the evening, was scored by Seru. The conversion took the score to 52-5, gave Welsh top spot in Pool B and a place alongside London Irish and Saracens in the Finals. Runners up in Pool B were tonight's hosts Sale Sharks.
Final: Friday 3rd August, The Recreation Ground, Bath
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.
PADDYTAF.
"GIVE THEM NO BAL OR BAD BALL WELSH"
Quote of the evening from one of the Samurai players 'tonight we are representing London Welsh'.
Given that we didn't know we would be invited to this after other teams what could we have done?
At a more literal level have we broken any rules? Perhaps giving these players a run out could give us greater depth and opps to run rule over players than we would otherwise not have had.
It was a delight to see Welsh on ITV4 last night regardless of the bleating commentary about our selections. Perhaps it was a tactical masterstroke that other clubs missed?
I quite liked the result too. Well done all and keep it up.
PADDYTAF.
"GIVE THEM NO BALL OR BAD BALL WELSH"
as are the other games from that night
Quote:rm68
A travesty is quite strong, and unsubstantiated.
Given that we didn't know we would be invited to this after other teams what could we have done?
At a more literal level have we broken any rules? Perhaps giving these players a run out could give us greater depth and opps to run rule over players than we would otherwise not have had.
It was a delight to see Welsh on ITV4 last night regardless of the bleating commentary about our selections. Perhaps it was a tactical masterstroke that other clubs missed?
I quite liked the result too. Well done all and keep it up.
1. Travesty is quite weak!
2. You could have given your club members a run-out and bowed out graciously
3. Whilst you might not "have broken any rules" you have certainly burst the spirit of the competition for the real club rugby supporter.
I can only imagine the clamour from (L,Welsh?) supporters if a real premiership club had gone out and given 11 of their valued club shirts to an external group of 7s professionals!
Burst the spirit of the competition? It's a Mickey Mouse pre-season jolly, created because the 'guest' teams (including Samurai and the Army) had stolen the Middlesex Sevens from under the noses of the Premiership clubs - who, it should not be forgotten, had hijacked the event in the first place. The aggregate attendance for the first three rounds must be less than 15k - the punters and the clubs all know it doesn't matter.
2. You could have given your club members a run-out and bowed out graciously
3. Whilst you might not "have broken any rules" you have certainly burst the spirit of the competition for the real club rugby supporter.
I can only imagine the clamour from (L,Welsh?) supporters if a real premiership club had gone out and given 11 of their valued club
Casual13. I can see the point in your moan & groan about us LONDON WELSH not using our club members or only one player from our squad. The reason for this was we had intended in giving the other teams a glimmer of hope in qualifying for the finals. Had we fielded our squad members then there would have been no hope at all in the other teams coming anywhere near to beating us.
PADDYTAF.
"GIVE THEM NO BALL OR BAD BALL WELSH"
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:07:31:12:33:29 by paddytaf.
I will admit to being an "absurd or inferior imitation" of a professional rugby player!
1. Elliott Brierley
2. Hamish Smales
3. Tom Rees
4. Lolo Evans
5. Steve Hamilton
6. Peceli Nacamavuto
7. Ben Frankland
8. Ryan De La Harpe
9. Ed Tellwright
10. Chris Banfield
11. Ashley Smith
12. Steve Wood
Ashley Smith is this week's token LW player.
Brierley and Hamilton have been at Rotherham, and Hamilton also had spells with Blackheath & Nottingham
Frankland and Smales have played for 'top international Sevens team HFW Wailers', alongside one Joe Ajuwa.
De La Harpe is the Moseley & Namibia scrum-half, played at RWC last year.
All I can add is that Ashley trained with the squad in Sale, but ultimately wasn't picked as part of the squad.
No 4 is actually Iolo. I know we have a host of backs at LW, but Iolo is a free agent and was very impressive at Edgeley Park.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:08:01:10:45:20 by Mark W-J.
Quote:Mark W-J
Copied and pasted from the club website, so any spelling mistakes are official!
I wasn't questioning you for a moment Mark!
Bit disappointing for the club to get a players name wrong.
Quote:Crug MawrQuote:Mark W-J
Copied and pasted from the club website, so any spelling mistakes are official!
I wasn't questioning you for a moment Mark!
Bit disappointing for the club to get a players name wrong.
I rest my case - still at least the one London Welsh player managed to get into your mercenary squad!!!
Quote:Perhaps it was a tactical masterstroke that other clubs missed?
Indeed, assuming you mean that you want the rest of the Premiership fans to be rather amused at LW fans getting excited about the Samurai playing well.
You are aware you are not allowed to hire in the Canterbury Crusaders to play for you come September? In the space of a few weeks I have gone from being very positive about LW being promoted to now looking forward to you being humped off the park come opening weekend. What a PR master-class. Well done.
"GIVE THEM NO BALL OR BAD BALL WELSH"
It would have been far better to attend the 7's and taken a bit of a knock in the first round - get a bit hammered (everyone knows that your team won't have been getting ready for the 7's so nobody will have thought of LW any less as a club) but to go for hired guns was a demonstration in how not to do it. This is not directed at LW fans - merely your board/directors and chairman.
It will be remembered by players from other clubs in the prem, and they will just be lining up to see who can put the most points away against LW. This is not inteneded as a dig at your fans in the slightest, but if it had been done by another club, I am sure the fans would make their feelings known to the club, and a little embarassment - but not here, and I am not sure why.
Good luck for the season though - you may need it - and it often does come down to a little good luck on the day.
A good 'old' fighter pilots saying.... 'I'd rather be lucky than good - any day of the week'
Enjoy
Quote:Far, far too much being made of this - an insignificant pre season sevens tournament that in the scheme of things doesn't matter a jot.digitalsys
It will be remembered by players from other clubs in the prem, and they will just be lining up to see who can put the most points away against LW.
Every team in the Premiership will be lining up to put as many points as possible on LW - they're professionals! As one Prem player told me last week 'you just can't be seen to be the first team to lose to Welsh. They'd all be laughing all the way to Newcastle!'
Quote:paddytaf
Well Remember we LONDON WELSH have nothing to lose [/color]
Very true. You lost any respect rugby folk had for you when you ponced a team to play in your place in the competition.
Can't wait for your relegation. Although you will probably go into liquidation before then of course.
And poodle faker, luke lisa etc you bleat on about a sevens tournament that doesn't matter but say nowt about the XV a side game. If you want the kind of tournament you seem to want then scrap the pro game and let's all go back to being jolly amateurs using lads who were born no more than five miles away from your ground.
Quote:lukelisa
Glad you did not win the JP Morgan 7s. I think that all your team should have been London Welsh players not men from all over that had a good record of playing sevens. I would have called it unfair play.
Sevens is a different game to 15s.
You might as well moan about us beating some team in a charity cricket game.