It was the manner of London Welsh’s 32-26 British & Irish Cup defeat to London Scottish at Monks Lane on Saturday rather than the loss itself that disappointed head coach Justin Burnell.

Welsh conceded two early tries, provoking echoes of Rotherham the previous weekend.

But having battled back to lead early in the second half, they were left to rue a high penalty count. “I’m not happy with a loss and, of course, I’m disappointed, but sometimes it’s in the manner of how you lose,” said Burnell.

“It was a scrappy encounter; sometimes you get the luck of the bounce or the decisions. “Thankfully it wasn’t a league game and we’re still top of the Championship.

Commenting on the number of changes he had made from the previous week, he added: “We give it [the B&I Cup] the same respect as any competition we’re in.

“But obviously we’re very mindful you’ve got 23 league games, and if you’re very fortunate another four. “It’s a long season in the Championship and we’re managing our players.

“We fielded 14 completely different players today, but it’s about keeping the consistency within the performance so of course we’re disappointed.

“We conceded two early tries from individual errors – if they were systematic errors I could understand. But it’s back to work on Monday and onwards and upwards.”

London Scottish had also made changes from the previous week’s league game, and coach James Buckland was delighted that his squad players has stepped up to the challenge.

He said: “I’m really satisfied, because Welsh are dangerous, they are big and they are attritional.”