Rugby Lions ended London Scottish’s ten match winning run in a thrilling game in cold and misty conditions at Webb Ellis Road. Lion’s took a very early lead with a penalty by James Hawken from twenty-five metres, after the visitors were caught offside.

Scottish responded through their backs with a series of attacks before wing Ian MacInroy was given just enough space to squeeze in the corner in front of the clubhouse. The conversion attempt by James Brown was missed to leave the score at 3-5.

Rugby had the chance to regain the lead on fourteen minutes with another penalty by Hawken, but although the kick was straight enough, it dropped agonisingly a foot under the bar.

The game was highly competitive, and following a fracas amongst the forwards, Scottish lock Fullarton was given a spell in the bin.

Despite applying pressure, Lion’s were unable to make their numerical advantage count until just before the ten minutes were up, when Hawken slotted another penalty for a 6-5 lead. The lead did not last long, as Rugby were deemed to have stood up at their own scrum on the twenty-two, and Brown made up for an earlier miss to give the visitors a slender lead.

As the half was drawing to a close, Scottish attacked down the right flank, and with the referee playing an advantage, the ball was spun inside for replacement Alex Karonias to score under the posts. The pass looked decidedly forward, although the officials judged it to be "flat".

The half time whistle blew as soon as the conversion went over.

With the cold wind now in their favour, Rugby were forced back in the early stages of the third quarter, although their aggressive defence forced the visitors into a series of handling errors. Lion’s cause was not helped when Stuart Riding was shown a yellow card on fifty-two minutes for an offence that was not obvious to the spectators. The resulting penalty failed to make touch and Rugby counter-attacked strongly, the ball was chipped ahead, and only some quick-witted covering by the last defender prevented a score.

On fifty eight minutes, Rugby bought on top try scorer Ade Hales in place of Michael Rust, and a lovely break from James Hawken gave the winger the chance to score in front of the clubhouse with his first touch of the ball. Hawken’s conversion from the touchline drifted narrowly wide, but the lead was reduced to 11-15.

As play entered the last quarter, Brown extended the visitor’s lead to seven points with another penalty from twenty-five metres.

Lions came back strongly, and with Toby Handley marshalling the pack, they mounted a series of drives to get within metres of the visitor’s try line. The referee’s refusal to allow rucks to develop did not help Rugby’s cause and eventually the danger was cleared with a long clearance kick to the home twenty-two.

Scottish were beginning to look a little rattled by their own mistakes, and a chip ahead by Harry Owens was knocked on by Neale. Phil Reed expertly flipped the ball up to the supporting Hales who strode over for his second try. Hawken converted to tie the scores at 18-18.

It is a long time since Rugby played London Scottish and that was in the early days of professional rugby union, when the Lions resources were diminishing and those of the Exiles were burgeoning. Since then things have changed for both clubs. London Scottish have had to fight their way back up from the league depths while Rugby have struggled to stay in place as other teams have passed them by on the way (some of them) to greater things.

As things stand, with only a few league games left before the Christmas break, the Exiles, having won ten out of ten games, can look back on a job well done; they will almost certainly get into National 2 before their landlords do. An oddity about this particular game is that Rugby’s opponents have a coach who was not so long ago Rugby’sr coach and also a key player who once played for them.

Rugby played very well to draw the game with Ealing a few weeks ago, albeit that London Scottish thumped the west Londoners a week later. If the Lions can reproduce the form of that day and maintain a grip throughout the 80 minutes, they might spring another surprise.