London Scottish prop James Hallam insists his side are exactly where they want to be, despite back-to-back defeats to Championship promotion rivals Worcester Warriors and Nottingham, writes Jack Miller.

The Exiles endured a torrid December, losing twice to crash out of the British & Irish Cup, before going down 17-34 at home to second-placed Worcester.

And it was a similar story for their first game of 2015, as Scottish were edged out of third place at Nottingham 22-21, the Exiles not registering a single try.

But 24-year-old Hallam is adamant his side are still in pole position for the play-offs heading into the second half of the season.

“I think the main target for us is just to stay in that top four,” he said ahead of tomorrow's visit of Yorkshire Carnegie.

“And as long as we are there at the end of the season you don’t know what can happen in a playoff situation.

“So we are happy with where we are, although certainly winning the game against Worcester would have been excellent psychologically as well as in terms of points in the league table.

“But as long as we can achieve that top four target, that’s where we want to be.

“We want to get our attack right this week as it didn’t quite function properly against Nottingham, and that means obviously from my point of view getting the line-out and scrum right is massive.

“So it is important to get the win which will keep us on track for our top four aspirations.”

Formed in 2009, the Greene King IPA Championship is the second tier of professional rugby union in England. For all the latest news follow @ChampRugby on Twitter, or visit rfu.com/championship