London Scottish 41 Newbury 20

London Scottish FC got back to winning ways on their return to the Athletic Ground, by running out a 41-20 win over Newbury in an entertaining National League One encounter, writes Simon MacMichael.

On a calm afternoon the visitors kicked off and swiftly had the Scottish defence under pressure in winning a penalty in the second minute, which their fly-half slotted over and repeating the feat five minutes from an almost identical position for a 6-0 lead.

It took Scottish another quarter-of-an-hour to get their first points on the board, although they had twice come close in the intervening period.

The first of these was with a disallowed try after right wing Charlie Broughton attempted to run on to a deft chip from fly-half James Brown, followed by a missed penalty from full-back Frankie Neale, who saw the ball drift just wide.

Neale made amends moments later by slotting into a move on the left, and did well to collect the ball to go over for a try in the corner.

As the game opened up, both teams came close to adding the second try of the match, with the Newbury prop well tackled by Scottish flanker Tom Yellowlees as he sought to burst clear for the line.

Home centre Stuart Peel stopped short, as he looked to find a way through at the other end.

The home crowd didn’t have long to wait to celebrate another try, with second row Iain Fullarton charging through to get his name on the scoresheet at 25 minutes, with Neale’s kick sailing through the uprights to put Scottish 12-6 ahead.

Five minutes later, Broughton marked his 50th appearance for the club with the first of his two tries of the afternoon, avoiding two last-ditch Newbury tackles after gathering well from centre Rory Damant to touch down in the right-hand corner, with Neale again adding the conversion.

By half-time, Scottish had wrapped up the bonus point - scrum-half Callum Grant caught the Newbury defence asleep as he picked up from the back of a scrum 10m out and running through to claim his first try for the club, Neale’s conversion extending the hosts’ lead to 20 points.

As half-time drew to a close, Newbury pushed for a try of their own and were rewarded, when their flanker touched down on the right after his side had elected to run a penalty from in front of the Scottish posts rather than taking the option of kicking for three points with the added conversion making the half-time score 26-13.

The visitors began the second half in the same vein with which they had ended the first and, on 46 minutes, claimed their second try when their left wing shrugged off a couple of tackles to score under the posts.

Again, their number 10 put his kick over, reducing the gap to just six points.

Scottish struck back within moments, when Tom Standfield went over in the right-hand corner to make the score 31-20.

Shortly after the hour, the hosts sealed victory through a penalty from Neale followed swiftly by Broughton’s second try of the afternoon, which came after the winger intercepted a Newbury pass and ran 70m to touch down under the posts to set up an easy conversion chance.

Scottish prop Matt Johnson was substituted later on, allowing him to take the crowd’s applause as he marked his 101st match for the club, while his fellow forward, Mark Soden marked his return to the side by picking up the First Cape man-of-the-match award.

The team's return to familiar surroundings was given an added Scottish flavour by promotions from Visit Scotland together with Black Grouse whisky and meat suppliers Donald Russell of Inverurie.

With third-placed Launceston losing at Blaydon, Saturday’s win consolidates second place in the league for Scottish, who now lie 11 points ahead of the Cornish All Blacks.

London Scottish FC - Tries: Broughton (2), Neale, Fullarton, Grant, Standfield; Conversions: Neale (4); Penalty: Neale

London Scottish FC: Neale, Broughton, Peel, Damant, Howells, J Broen, Grant, M Johnson, Standfield, Fahey, Fullarton, Palmer, Soden, Yellowlees, Lipp (Replacements: Ellis, Kent, Smith, Heeks, McInroy)