London Welsh’s British & Irish Cup clash at Cornish Pirates on Saturday was an opportunity for some to put their hands up, and Josh Davies certainly did that, writes Damian Dolan.

The scrum half, who joined the Exiles in the summer from Plymouth Albion, was making his first competitive start of the season, and joined four others making their first appearance of the campaign.

Davies had crossed twice in Welsh’s opening pre-season run out at Esher, but has had to be patient since then for his opportunity.

Given his chance at Mennaye Field, he duly capped a fine all round display with a second half try, although it was not enough to stop Welsh crashing to a 28-21 defeat – their fifth defeat in their past six games.

“I was grateful for the opportunity and hopefully I’ve taken it,” said Davies.

“So far this season I’ve been disappointed not to get the game time I would have liked “But I’m young and I’ve just got to keep my head down, keep training hard and keep doing what I’m doing,”

Welsh, who secured a losing bonus point with the last kick of the game, host Cardiff Blues tomorrow with a point to prove.

“In other games, when we’d gone two scores behind, we might have just let the game run away from us, but we really dug in,” added Davies.

“It gives us something to take into next week. We’ve got another point to prove back at home and hopefully we can build on this performance, and get the win.”