London Welsh winger Nick Scott is confident the Exiles can put their B&I Cup defeats behind them as they return to Greene King IPA Championship action.

 

Justin Burnell’s table toppers entertain fourth placed Cornish Pirates at the Kassam Stadium on Saturday evening, after cup defeats to London Scottish and Pontypridd, with Leeds Carnegie and Bristol to follow in quick succession for the Exiles.

“It’s about how we react to these two defeats,” said Scott. “Ideally, we wanted to carry on winning, so on Saturday it’s about producing a good performance.

“The defeats haven’t changed us; we’re still confident, we still believe we’re a good team and we still believe we’re rightfully top of the table.

“It’s about getting back to the league and back to business. We’ve three massive games coming up to put our intent and statement on the Championship. If we come away with three wins, which we’re fully capable of doing, then you’ve got to look at us as the real deal.

“Home form is going to be key in the Championship – we’ve got to be looking at winning all our home games and there’s no reason why we can’t do that.  We want the Kassam to hold a fear factor for visiting teams, as that will help us massively.”

On the eve of potentially making his 50th appearance, it’s little wonder Scott’s Welsh career has flown by.

Arriving on loan from Bath just prior to the club’s 2012 Championship play-off run, Scott finished the season with seven tries in 12 league appearances, including a crucial score in the semi-final win over Bedford, as well as one of Welsh’s four tries in their first leg final win over the Pirates at Mennaye Field.

“We put in an outrageous performance down there at the Mennaye and that sent us up. The second leg at the Kassam was class. It was a great time to be involved with the club and they’re memories I will always have,” said Scott.

“It feels like I only showed up at the club the other day. But you think about it a lot has happened.

“I’ve had some incredible highs, culminating in winning the Championship and then went through another rollercoaster with the boys in the Premiership – massive highs and big lows. It’s been emotional.

“You could sense everything was building towards the play-offs – the club timed it perfectly and the whole team hit the ground running hard. We were confident that we could definitely get promoted.

“The club has changed a lot; that one season in the Premiership has really kicked the club on. Okay we got relegated but the standards have been set. As Justin said when he first came in, he sees this as a Premiership club. We want to get back where we think we belong.”

Last Saturday’s try in the defeat at Pontypridd was Scott’s 16th in a London Welsh jersey, but his last-gasp intercept try to beat Bath in the Premiership at the Kassam will take some beating.

“That was my highlight, I loved that game. It wasn’t just because it was my old club Bath. To get wins in the Premiership is such hard work,” said Scott.

“You start on Monday and with all the effort put in at the weekend to get the result from the last play of the game was something special. The best thing about it wasn’t actually the try, it was the celebrations afterwards.”

Try number 17 on Saturday and a fifth consecutive league win would be a nice way to mark his 50th appearance.