The Warriors made their 4th trip to London on the England match weekend, to face a London Welsh select.

In true tour spirit, the Warriors fielded 15 new 'Virgin' tourists in random positions, strong running prop Dai Haines found himself on the wing whilst Dai Harries made for an especially short prop.

The Virgin tourists did a sterling job for the early exchanges before a more recognisable XV was filtered in.

As the cohesion came in, they put together some fine rugby. Gareth Jenkins got the most spectacular score, a 50 meter interception run, whilst Jamie Evans and Adam Fussell got more conventional scores with some strong running. It could have been more with James Evans losing the ball over the line.
David Harries did get another before the break to cap a busy match.

The 2nd half saw the Exiles XV gelling more and more. Their willingness to run stretched a Warriors team that was starting to show the consequences of having a full social tour. Although Nathan Murphy squeezed over after an incredible run, the home team started to rack up the tries. Anthony Higgins defended well throughout, leading by example as tour captain and later named Man of the Match. Matthew Miller showed what a dependable defender he has become and Mathew Hinder worked hard to the end.

The home side though overtook the Warriors and were full of running right to the end. Typically, the Warriors battled their way to force a driving maul on the Exiles try line, but when the maul was penalised, London Welsh went fuller 80 meters.

The Warriors couldn't hold on to their lead and certainly couldn't wrestle back momentum once it was with the home team. Welsh battled through to record their 1st win in the series and some very tired Warriors bodies headed for the showers and then the bar.

An enjoyable game, the big squad enjoyed the match itself and the trip as a whole. Thanks to London Welsh for hosting again and referee Neil Wharton.

Shaun Allen (Tom Edwards), Dai Haines (Simon Day), Anthony Higgins (Cpt) (Mathew Hinder), Matthew Miller, Joe Strydi'rScrum* (cain Rodway), Llyr Jones (Jamie Evans), James Evans (Arwel Thomas), Dai Harries (Tony Whittaker, Graham Rodway), Ashley Lewis (Luke Pearse), Gareth Jenkins (Colin Tacon, Stefan Marshall), George Belmain* (John Horwood), Simon Allen (Paul Richards, Darren Pollitt), Stuart Davies* (Nathan Lawson, Keiron Morgan), Dan Waitt (Tomos Hall), Peter Rodway (Gwilym Lewis, Adam Fussell).
*Debut

Knackered!