London Scottish get their pre-season underway against Rotherham Titans next Wednesday and head coach Peter Richards reckons it is the perfect warm-up for Championship hostilities.

The exiles are looking to build on last term's top-four finish last season and have strengthened significantly over the summer.

Scottish edged Rotherham at home in the league last year with a 32-23 bonus point win on last season's opening day - thanks to a Mark Bright hat-trick.

But they finished the regular season with a 19-3 defeat at Abbeydale Park and Richards says that means there could be fireworks next week.

”Last year they were both even matches so it will be ideal preparation for the new season and beneficial to see how we have improved,” he said.

“Scottish and Rotherham finished in third and fourth respectively last season in the Championship, so it shows how competitive the match on Wednesday will be, and gives our players a challenge ahead of our league opener against Moseley on September 4.”

Next week's match on August 19 kicks off at 7pm and tickets for non-members are £5.