RUGBY UNION: London Welsh end with a flourish

If this was to be London Welsh’s Oxford swansong, they at least gave their supporters plenty to cheer at the Kassam Stadium on Saturday.

The Exiles scored four tries, earning their first bonus-point victory of the season, and produced plenty of flowing rugby.

It is now up to the club to decide where they will play in the Championship next season, with finances being the key.

But they have brought much to Oxford’s sporting scene.

Worcester, who finished one of the bottom after a fifth straight Premiership defeat, were surprisingly flat and never really recovered from conceding two early tries.

Welsh head coach Lyn Jones was missing 14 players through injury when naming his side.

Those that started included twin brothers, James and Rob Lewis, at inside centre and scrum half respectively.

The Exiles got off to a real flier and had the ascendancy for much of the game.

On four minutes, wing Dan Caprice found himself with a bit of room on the right and the former England Sevens man scorched past Worcester’s Ben Howard to score his first try for Welsh.

Fly half Gordon Ross converted, and he did not have long to wait for a repeat show.

Worcester had flanker Neil Best sin-binned and Welsh kicked for the corner.

A powerful rolling maul resulted, and No 8 Alfie To’oala got the touchdown, Ross converting for a 14-0 lead.

Welsh had flanker Dan Browne yellow-carded after not retreating ten metres when Worcester fly half Andy Goode took a quick penalty.

But referee Matthew Carley ruled Warriors held up from the resulting drive when they should have scored.

After some desperate defence, the Exiles won a penalty to clear their lines.

Worcester’s pain was compounded when Ross’s penalty made it 17-0 on 23 minutes.

Browne had not been back on the field for too long before Exiles lock Kirill Kulemin was yellow-carded for an off-the-ball incident.

Worcester won a string of penalties, which brought Goode into range and he made it 17-3 with a straight-forward kick.

Welsh received their third yellow card of the half when Ross was penalised for a deliberate knock-on and left the field just as Kulemin was returning However, Goode’s resultant penalty hit the left-hand post before being cleared.

The Exiles were good value for their 17-3 half-time lead.

Welsh piled on the pressure soon after the restart and went close with several forward drives before Rob Lewis spun the ball wide for full back Tom Arscott to go over.

The hosts continued to hold sway and were rewarded by Ross’s second penalty.

From the restart, they conjured up a spectacular long-range try for left wing Nick Scott.

Welsh must have thought they had it sewn up, but then conceded two soft tries in the space of three minutes as the clock approached the hour mark.

Both were scored by Worcester’s former London Welsh wing Josh Drauniniu – the first courtesy of a handling error, the second from the simplest of runs through a complacent defence.

Goode converted each to make it 30-17 and Warriors had a spring in their step.

Welsh managed to weather the storm before regaining their momentum.

This was helped by a yellow card for Worcester lock Chris Jones.

Having been awarded another penalty, Ross took the pragmatic approach and slotted the three points for 33-17.

There was still time for Worcester replacement flanker Jake Abbott to power through a tiring defence for their third try.

But that could not ruin the Exiles’great day and only a foot in touch stopped replacement wing Joe Ajuwa from a possible fifth try late on.

London Welsh: Arscott, Caprice (Ajuwa 38), Stegmann, J Lewis, Scott, Ross (capt), R Lewis (Davies 70), Bristow (Moss 72), Bateman (George 72), Joly (Tideswell 61), Kulemin (Brown 60), Corker, Browne, Beach (Denbee 70), To’oala (Cabello Farias 41).

Worcester: Pennell, Drauniniu, Short (Gray 67), Grove, Howard, Goode, Arr (Hodgson 69), Mullan, Shervington, Murray (Andress 69), Percival (capt) (Schofield 69), Jones, Best, Betty (Abbott 67), de Carpentier. Reps not used: Lutui, O'Donnell, Stelling.

Referee: M Carley (Kent).

Man-of-the-match: Arscott.

Attendance: 3,610.