Plymouth Albion completed a perfect September with another impressive National 1 performance, beating London Scottish 50-14 in the capital to make it four bonus-point victories from their opening four league matches.
Ryan Lamb’s side have collected the maximum 20 league points available after victories over Rosslyn Park, Camborne, Sheffield and now London Scottish, scoring 190 points in the process.
Albion have also yet to trail at any stage of the league campaign, while no opposition has managed to secure a try-scoring bonus point against them.
It has been a strong opening month, but Saturday’s trip to London Scottish represented another significant test against a side relegated from the Championship last season.
Albion responded with eight tries from seven different scorers and another performance built around physicality, sustained pressure and an impressive set-piece.
Fast Start in the Capital
Fast starts have become a feature of Albion’s opening weeks and it took just two minutes for Noah Fenton to continue that trend.
The winger crossed for the opening score before Frankie Dart converted, and Fenton was involved again shortly afterwards.
This time co-captain Jack Oulton helped create the opportunity with a well-timed dummy before Fenton went over for his second. Dart converted again and Albion had established a 14-0 advantage inside the opening quarter.
London Scottish responded through Connor Mounce, with the conversion reducing the deficit to seven points, but Albion quickly regained control.
Jarrard Hayler crossed for the visitors’ third before Harry Wilkinson added the bonus-point try from a powerful Albion maul.
It was Wilkinson’s sixth try of the National 1 campaign and sent Albion into half-time with a 24-7 advantage.
London Scottish were also reduced to 14 men shortly before the interval when Theo Vukasinovic was shown a yellow card.
Albion Take Control
Albion’s physicality continued to tell after the restart.
Sam Daly crossed early in the second half, with Dart converting to extend the advantage to 31-7 and take Daly to six league tries for the season.
Albion continued to enjoy the upper hand at both scrum and lineout time, providing a strong platform from which to keep applying pressure.
Replacement Rhys Williams was next across the line before Bobby Wigginton marked his return from injury with a try of his own.
London Scottish found their second converted try of the afternoon, but Albion had the final say.
Oulton, who had played his part in creating Fenton’s second try during the opening exchanges, crossed for Albion’s eighth before Dart’s conversion brought up the half-century and completed a 50-14 victory.
A Perfect September
The result leaves Albion with a perfect record after the opening month of the National 1 campaign.
Four matches have produced four bonus-point victories, with Albion scoring 190 points and conceding 57.
No opposition has led against Albion at any stage of those four matches, while no side has reached double figures against them by half-time.
Elsewhere, Tonbridge Juddians maintained their own unbeaten start with a dramatic 52-49 victory away at Sale FC, meaning Albion and Tonbridge both emerge from September with maximum points.
Despite the impressive start, Head Coach Ryan Lamb was keen to keep the focus firmly on what comes next.
“I’m really proud of the group and the way we’ve started the season. To take maximum points from the first four games, especially with three of those away from home, is something the players deserve a lot of credit for.
“But we also know it’s only four games. There’s a long season ahead of us and plenty we can improve on. We’ll enjoy the result, recover properly and then our attention turns straight to Cambridge.
“The important thing for us is that we keep working hard, keep learning and don’t get too far ahead of ourselves. We’ve given ourselves a good start, but that’s all it is at this stage.”
Match Report: Paul Nicholson
