Welsh fall short of JP Morgan 7s Final

Two pools of three battled it out at The Rec with the top team from each going through to the final. London Welsh continued their Samurai collaboration with just one of their own players in the evening’s squad to face fellow 'Exiles'  and the hosts Bath in Pool B. Welsh may have been unbeaten at Sale but on this occasion the challenge proved just a little too much.

London Welsh team:

1. Elliott Brierley 
2. Hamish Smales 
3. Tom Rees 
4. Iolo 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 

Welsh featured in the second match of the evening after Saracens opened proceedings turning a 14-12 half time lead over Sale into a 32-12 victory in Pool A.

The Premiership newcomers continued the try-scoring style that won them the Northern Group a fortnight earlier. London Irish may have had the initial possession but it was London Welsh Captain Ashley Smith that created the first opportunity when he gathered a loose ball and on the 22 line passed to Rees to beat the defence.  Conversion added for 7-0.

The score was soon level when Irish ripped the ball from Welsh hands and pure pace down the touchline plus the conversion made it 7-7. A referral to the TMO confirmed a try for Ashley Smith after Welsh capitalised on a handling error (12-7) and even when Irish took a quick penalty in the closing moments of the half it was the Oxford Exiles that again found themselves with ball in hand and eventually the space for Banfield to make a solo run for the try and conversion. Half time 19-7.

Early pressure by Irish in the second half produced a try after two minutes. The lead may have been reduced by five points but Welsh soon hauled that back. Indiscipline gave LW a penalty on the 22 and Smith crossed for his second try of the evening and put his team two scores clear. Evans’ secured victory with a try in the final minute but with seconds left on the clock there was still time for Irish to touch down for a 29-17 final score.

Bath were always going to be a different prospect especially when boosted by a vocal home support. Welsh didn't help their cause conceding an early penalty and it was only a knock-on that prevented the home team opening the scoring. Welsh failed to control the ball as it popped out the back of the resulting scrum and a hack ahead led to Bath’s first score of the night. Try number two arrived moments later from a superb cross field kick which was gather near the corner for the simplest of run-ins. Bath led 14-0.

A quick penalty by Nacamavuto  and a pass to Steve Wood moved the score to 14-7 and gave some hope that Welsh were still in the match. The fourth try of the half added to Bath’s lead when they found a huge gap in the Welsh defence and almost immediately Guy Mercer repeated the move on the opposite wing for the 150h try of the tournament. Half time 24-7.

London Welsh made half work of the second half conceding too many penalties and not making anything out any possession they had. The score remained at 24-7 and Welsh suffered their first defeat of their Premiership status. It was now a wait for the result of Bath v London Irish to find out who would top the group and face  Gloucester in the final.

London Irish ran up a 19 point lead and Bath's two tries late in the first half kept the tension going. Three further Irish tries in the second half took them to 31-14 and through to the final.