For a full match report, click HERE
Jersey travelled to the Athletic ground on a sunny afternoon
full of hope, knowing that a win could lift them to 8th in the
table, but ultimately left empty-handed.
The Islanders started brightly and on 2 minutes O'Connor stepped
up to kick a penalty from just inside the Scottish half to take a
0-3 lead, but that was as good as it got.
London Scottish bounced straight back from the restart with a
try by Gidlow that was converted by Millar.
Scottish consistently looked to move the ball quickly through
the three-quarters, always looking threatening, putting Jersey
under periods of sustained pressure, and also maintaing territorial
advantage.
Jersey thought that they had scored when Penberthy touched down,
but the referee decided otherwise, adjudging Foster to have been
offside when O'Connor delivered the clever crossfield kick that
lead to the 'score'.
Scottish extended the lead before the break with a converted
Bright try, to make it 12-3 at the turn around.
Jersey started the 2nd period with a renewed sense of urgency,
but struggled to break an ever present, solid home defence, and
were also unusually and surprisingly under constant pressure in the
scrums, often being driven back.
Millar extended the home side's advantage with a cleanly struck
penalty before Bright then got his 2nd try of the afternoon,
breaking two tackles on his way to the line. Millar converted from
out wide and at 22-3 Jersey were in need of inspiration.
Griffiths and the returning Makaafi came on and things did
improve, but as the game moved into the last quarter, Mantella
intercepted a pass on the half-way and broke to score the bonus
point try that was also converted to make it 29-3, and that was how
it stayed.
