London Scottish avoid relegation despite defeat

LONDON Scottish will play Championship rugby again next season despite losing their relegation decider 31-26 at home to Esher on Saturday.

In a nine-try thriller at Richmond Athletic Park, London Scottish trailed their visitors 21-12 at half-time and seemed to be heading for the drop to the National One division.

But a try by centre Charlie Hayter 15 minutes from the end gave the exiles their fourth try and the single bonus point they needed to leave Esher marooned at the bottom of the relegation pool, despite having run in five tries themselves.

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Their place in the Championship will be taken by Jersey, who won the National One title with a 37-13 win at Coventry on Saturday. Winger Donovan Sanders scored a try in injury time to give his side the bonus point they needed for the title and their third successive promotion.

Meanwhile, in the Premiership yesterday, Northampton moved in to fourth place thanks to two second-half tries as they ended Exeter’s run of four league wins in a row.

It means the final place in the end of season play-offs will be decided on the last day of the regular season – Saturday, May 5 – when Saints host Worcester Warriors and Exeter are away to Saracens.

Chris Ashton and Paul Diggin were Northampton’s try-scorers, with Stephen Myler adding a conversion and two penalties. Exeter also crossed the line twice, scoring first and last through Gonzalo Camacho and Richard Baxter, with five points coming from the boot of Ignacio Mieres.

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