London Scottish winger James Love expects Sunday’s eagerly anticipated clash with near neighbours rivals London Welsh to go down to the wire, writes Andy Weston.
 

The sides have met three times already this season, twice in the B&I Cup and once in the league with Scottish holding a 2-1 aggregate.
 

Yet, all three matches have been tight affairs and Love, whose last gasp penalty kick secured a 23-20 victory over Moseley last Saturday, expects Sunday’s game at the Athletic Ground to be no different.
 

“The teams are so evenly matched so it will come down to fine margins, whether that’s kicks at goal or great defending from one of the sides,” he said.
 

“Welsh defensively have been excellent in recent weeks and that’s an area of the game we take great pride in.
 

“We are 2-1 up at the moment and it is a home league game, which may give us an advantage.
 

“But they are a strong side and will bring huge physicality to the game, which is something we have been preparing for this week.
 

“It’s massively important we stay in touch with the top four and the only way to do that is to win on Sunday.”
 

Last weekend’s narrow win over Moseley was London Scottish’s first away success since the London Welsh game in December and Love feels it was vital they returned to winning ways ahead of the derby clash.
 

He added: “It was important given our recent away woes although we left some points out there which was the only disappointing aspect.
 

“But it sets us up really nicely for the game on Sunday and the whole squad cannot wait to get out there.”

* Women are entitled to free entry for the clash with London Welsh, while men can take advantage of a two-for-£25 ticket offer when presenting the coupon on the back of this week's Richmond & Twickenham Times to the ticket office. Full details see londonscottish.com