An opening day victory at Moseley, 38-27, was the perfect start to their British & Irish Cup campaign, but managing director John Taylor knows that will count for nothing at Aberavon on Friday night when they venture into ‘home’ territory for the first time.
“Because of our strong Welsh heritage and tradition we have agreed that we will target our two Welsh fixtures to try to show everyone that London Welsh is still a strong club,” said Taylor, who was one of the key components in the Exiles’ great sides of the seventies.
“I’ve been telling all the players what it used to be like travelling down to
“The other big game was the Boxing day fixture with Llanelli at
“We’ll be putting out our best team possible and we know that it is going to take a huge effort to make it two out of two. Aberavon have got an exciting young side, are well coached and showed what they are capable of by beating Llanelli at Parc y Scarlets last weekend.
“For me, it will be nice to go back to the Talbot Athletic Ground and not have to worry about whether or not Omri Jones is going to try to take my head off or try to find a way to stop Max Wiltshire and Billy Mainwaring rampaging everywhere.
“This is a very important game for London Welsh and I believe the home fixture with Llanelli in the New Year will potentially be our biggest game at Old Deer Park this season.”
Skipper Nathan Bonner-Evans is unlikely to recover in time to lead the side, but two of the Wales World Cup Sevens winning side, Lee Beach and Aled Thomas, could well start.
Other familiar fasces to south Wales fans will be former Ospreys lock Mike Powell and centre Greg Evans, ex-Scarlets centre Paul Mackey, back row man Jon Mills, hooker Dan George and prop Dorian Williams, former Celtic Warriors scrum half Allen Chilten and ex-Dragons scrum half Rob Lewis.
“We still have a very strong Welsh contingent within our squad and this tournament is a huge opportunity for those players who have played regional rugby before to showcase their talents,” added
