Exiles' top goal is not finishing top, says Smith

9:00am Saturday 4th January 2014 in Sport By Damian Dolan

London Welsh have the opportunity to regain top spot when they visit Jersey this afternoon, but assistant coach Ollie Smith has stressed that finishing top is not the clubs primary motivation.

After setting the pace in the Greene King IPA Championship for so long, the exiles slipped to a second consecutive league defeat to London Scottish at the Kassam Stadium last time out, on the back of losing at Bedford Blues.

The festive period duly saw them knocked off the top of the table by Bristol, but while the Exiles have the chance to reclaim top spot at St Peter (kick-off 2pm), finishing in the top four is the aim.

Its about what happens at the end of the season, said Smith. Wed like to be top but it means very little and that was proven when London Welsh finished fourth and got promoted.

Yeah, its nice to be top but we go from day to day and game to game, and our focus is very much on what needs to be done to win at the weekend.

Hopefully in hindsight those two defeats, and maybe one or two more than happen along the way because weve got some tough places to go to, will stand us in better stead than going unbeaten.

It proves we are beatable and while youd love to go into a game with the opposition thinking they havent got a chance, in your own mind youve got to have fear yourself to get the result you need.

Thats the key thing to come out of these last two games. Where could we have done better? Why did we lose?

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