Scottish will iron out mistakes for season opener (From Croydon Guardian)

Scottish will iron out mistakes for season opener

10:06am Thursday 2nd September 2010 in

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London Scottish head coach Simon Amor says his team will have no excuses should handling errors cost his side in this weekend’s season opener against Blackheath.

The Exiles beat Loughborough Students 27-7 on Saturday in their final pre-season friendly, however, a host of mistakes meant the scoreline was less emphatic than it could have been.

Scottish drew one and won the other - by one point - in two matches with their east London rivals last season, as they finished behind National One champions Esher.

And Amor, who has welcomed a host of new players to the club over the summer, insists his men should be ready for the big kick-off.

“We’ve had a good pre-season with a number of good tests and hopefully we can put the hard work in to practise at the weekend,” he said.

“There are a lot of new players here and it always takes time to gel, but that is not to make excuses.

“We need to improve our core skills and our handling, and the boys will be working hard at that over the coming weeks.

“Blackheath is a tough start for us. There was nothing between the two teams last season, but the result this weekend will not tell us anything.

“It will be a few weeks before the league starts to really take shape.”

Amor will be without injured winger David Howells for at least the first week of the campaign, but the Athletic Ground chief insists that will just give others an opportunity.

“Injuries are the nature of the game at this level. This is a chance for our younger guys,” he added.

“We learnt a lot about this league last season and I don’t think anyone will run away with it.

“You have to be on top of your game every week.”

Scottish’s next three games: Sept 4 Blackheath (h), 11 Barking (h), 18 Rosslyn Park (a).