Chiswick 7 London Scottish 53 Hosts Chiswick entered Saturday's league clash with London Scottish with high hopes on a sunny, but blustery day. They had, after all, seen off London New Zealand only a few weeks ago and at that time the Kiwis were league leaders.

However, this game belonged to the visitors, who produced the performance of the season. Even Scottish coach Kevin Powderly smiled as he reflected on the 36 points piled up in the second half, cementing the Scots' hold at the top of their division, writes Alan MacKay.

After early Chiswick pressure it was the Scots who nearly opened the scoring through Mark Tweedie, but it was prop Magnus McDonald who put the first points on the board with a try, converted by Campbell Aitken. However, it was not one-way traffic and on 20 minutes Chiswick drew level after a typical forwards try.

Shortly afterwards the Scots were given a penalty in front of the posts but Tony Devlin wisely decided to run it, setting up Murray Scott for a try to make the score 7-12. The score remained unchanged at the interval and the visitors sensed that their forward domination and the gale force winds would help their cause in the second period.

So it was to prove as the Scots immediately went on the attack, ending up with Aitken scoring a fine try in the corner. More tries followed with Tweedie claiming the first when he forced his way over in the corner.

At 7-22 victory was assured and the Scots then stepped up a gear. New boy Steve Clapp scored a debut try and seven seconds after the restart some brilliant play led to Aitken touching down in the left-hand corner. Aitken then slotted the conversion to stretch the lead to 7-34.

London Scottish were opening up at every opportunity with Tweedie again putting his name on the scoresheet before Scott McLean claimed an interception try far out to the right. Aitken's conversion was superb and the kicker then rounded off an outstanding afternoon with his hat-trick try, duly converted, to record the final score of 7-53.

The Scots know that the league title is not yet won, but this week's 3pm visit to Welwyn should hold few fears if their form is maintained.