London Welsh lost their final away game of the season in a 42-37 thriller against Bournemouth.
The Exiles took the lead three minutes into the contest with a penalty from Dafydd Manley.
Five minutes later Bournemouth took the lead through a converted try which made it 7-3.
After a series of sin bins for Bournemouth in the space of several minutes, Welsh initially reduced their deficit to just one point, before eventually taking the lead thanks to a try from Lima Savaiinaea, after the centre danced through two tackles before scoring under the posts. Manley’s conversion gave the Exiles a 13-7 lead.
Despite the home side scoring a penalty, they again received a yellow card after their full back was sent to the bin for a high tackle.
Thanks to the three man advantage, Welsh scored two successive tries in the space of two minutes with tries from Tom Hunt and Sion Cowdy, who both took advantage of their sheer pace to score walk in tries. Manley converted both tries to extend their lead to 10-27.
The home side responded with two tries of their own in the last five minutes with Welsh receiving a yellow card of their own after Lima Savaiinaea was sent to the bin after the centre’s deliberate knock on.
With one of the tries being converted for Bournemouth it meant that the half time score was 22-27 in favour of the Exiles.
Two minutes into the second half, Welsh wrapped up the bonus point with an interception try from Tom Hunt. After Manley missed the conversion it made it 22-32.
Welsh extended their lead six minutes later with a second from Sion Cowdy, after the winger picked up a loose Bournemouth pass, and the winger out paced the full back to score in the corner. Manley missed the conversion.
Bournemouth scored two quick successive tries of their own in the 52nd and 55th minute in a period of dominance from the home side to reduce the score to 32-37.
Bournemouth wrapped up their victory in the 73rd minute with a penalty to cut Welsh’s lead down to just two points before scoring a converted try in the last act of the match to give the home side a 42-37 victory.
Despite the defeat, Welsh remain in sixth position in the table, thanks to the their two bonus points, and will be hoping to finish their season on a high with a match at home to fourth place Maidenhead in the final league game of the season.
