2:11pm Tuesday 19th January 2010
By Stuart Amos
London Scottish director of rugby Brett Taylor reckons his got a taste of life in the Championship as they lost their unbeaten home record to National Division One title favourites Esher at the weekend.
The visitors scored five tries - including a spectacular brace from Harlequins prop Joe Marler - in a 38-15 triumph that put them five points clear at the top of the table with a game in hand over their rivals.
With only one promotion place available this season Scottish must now hope Esher slip-up between now and the end of the season to give them a chance of overhauling them.
And Taylor reckons his side, who surrendered an 11 match unbeaten run, were given a lesson in what to expect if they were to make the step up.
“If Esher play that way I can’t see many teams beating them between now and the end of the season, so we are going to have our work cut out,” he said.
“They didn’t deserve to be relegated and if you look at where they are now, they are probably a mid-table Championship side.
“It gives us a benchmark from which we can grow. It is the level we aspire to and this is a reference point for us to keep in mind as to the level of performance we need to reach.
“At this level the window of opportunity to score shuts very quickly and you have to be able to take it when it is open. They gave us a lesson in how to capitalise on your opportunities.”
Esher stamped their authority on Saturday’s game from the word go, but Taylor felt they didn’t really have to work for their points.
“They really imposed their personality on the game. The bounce of the ball went their way and they scored more from mistakes and first phase turnover ball than anything else,” he added.
The Athletic Ground chief will have to raise his troops for the trip to Nuneaton this weekend, but he reckons there are more than enough reasons to be cheerful about the rest of the campaign.
“We’ve got lots to work on, but at the same time we did a lot of good things against Esher. Our attacking and defensive strategies were pretty good on the whole,” said Taylor.
“You are always going to lose games, that is the nature of sport, but we have shown that when we get it right we are going to be a pretty good side.”
Scottish’s next three games: Jan 23 Nuneaton (a), 30 Blaydon (h), Feb 6 Blackheath (a).
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