Tries from Nathan Trevett, Nick Scott and Carl Kirwan helped Welsh to a 27-8 victory over Bristol in front of over 5,000 fans at the Kassam Stadium on last night, with the return leg to come on June 4.
“We will be going there with the mind-set that we have to win the game,” said London Welsh head coach Justin Burnell. “That will be our focus; we’ve got to go and win the game.
“We’ve still got a long way to go – there’s another leg to play. We know how good Bristol are – they’re capable of scoring points. We’re happy with the three tries and 19 points. Is 19 points enough? I’d rather be 19 points up than 19 points down.
“In hindsight we should be going there 26 points [up] – I honestly thought Nick Scott was under the posts. But at least we’re in the right areas.
“It’s all about next week and the preparation for us.
“We’re a pretty tough bunch and we don’t roll over. We saw that in respect to Leeds in the semi-final. Thirteen points down we were dead and buried and everyone wrote us off.
“That’s one thing we have got, spirit. Aside from the 19 points we’ll also be taking a lot of spirit with us [into the 2nd leg].”
