London Welsh set Premiership alight (pretty much)

Sale Sharks 19-29 London Welsh

Surely you’d have to have been the most optimistic of London Welsh fans to predict the Exiles would have two wins under their belts by the fourth weekend of the Premiership.

After an off-season which was dogged by the legal battle waged by Lyn Jones’s side simply to take their place in the top flight of English rugby, with a hastily-assembled squad lacking experience of top-level matches and with a move to their new home at Oxford’s Kassam Stadium, few held out much hope for Welsh.

“@londonwelshrfc: Full-time: Sale Sharks 19-29 London Welsh” fantastic win. Home and away you have to believe Welsh

— Scott Quinnell (@ScottQuinnell) September 21, 2012

And when the Exiles lost heavily at “home” to Leicester (38-13) and at Harlequins (40-3), it looked like it would be a long season with relegation the inevitable result.

But a thrilling 25-24 win over the Exeter Chiefs – another team who defied the gloomsters – on Sunday, thanks to a last-gasp try from Ed Jackson and conversion from Seb Jewell, earned the side their first Premiership triumph.

And tonight, Welsh have reached another milestone by picking up their first away win in the league, stunning the Sale Sharks (them of the glamorous Dwayne Peel-Danny Cipriani half-back pairing) at the Salford City Stadium.

sale losing at home now 9 26 to london welsh….. mother of flaming barnacles…

— Will Greenwood (@GreenwoodRugby) September 21, 2012

It was a bit hairy at times, as Sale threatened to come back from trailing 26-9 with just 21 minutes to go, but, thanks to first-half tries from captain Jon Mills and another for Jackson, Welsh had done enough.

Sensational.