London Scottish Forwards Coach Tim Payne has been delighted with the start to the season that the club has made, writes Oli Shapley.

The last-gasp 11-10 win over London Welsh at the Athletic Ground last weekend – care of Peter Lydon’s late drop goal – was Scottish’s fourth win in succession.

Scots skipper Mark Bright scored in the second half to give his side an 8-3 lead, but Welsh hit back to lead 10-8 through a converted Darren Waters effort to set the stage for Lydon’s heroics.

And former England and Wasps prop Payne is long enough in the tooth to know it is too early in the campaign to be getting carried away.

“The standard in the Championship is really high now and it’s a very tough league,” he said.

“We’ve had a good start but we’re only five games in and it’s early days.

“It was hard to watch at times on Saturday, but the boys dug in deep and kept coming back.

“We showed our spirit and character to get a great result against a team that will be right up there at the end of the season.”

He added: “If we can keep performing like we have done in the last few games then hopefully we’ll be able to give fans something to smile about.”

London Welsh head coach Rowland Phillips saw things slightly differently.

“We worked so hard as a team to get back into the game and to take the lead was outstanding,” said Phillips.

“We looked like the only team who was going to win that game, but we showed that naivety again when it comes to winning games of rugby.

“There have been times this season when we really should have buried teams, but we haven’t.

“We had an opportunity to win and we put ourselves in that position, but we couldn’t do it. It’s a tough lesson.”

Welsh head to Nottingham tonight, while Scottish go to Cornish Pirates on Sunday.