Seb Jewell could not have timed his 100th appearance for London Welsh much better, but he could not mark the milestone with a win, writes Damian Dolan.

The Exiles, narrow victors of Doncaster Knights on the Championship's opening day last week, crashed 36-22 to Bristol on their return to Old Deer Park on Sunday after three seasons at Oxford's Kassam stadium.

And, despite the defeat, Jewell, who started his career at Harlequins, admitted it was a fitting occasion as the former Hampton School student reflected on an important moment in his career.

"When I joined I never really thought about playing 100 games, but it's something that means a lot to me,” said the 27-year-old two-time Championship winner.

"London Welsh is really close to my heart. It's the first club I really felt an identity at, they took me in. I owe a lot to London Welsh for what I've achieved in my career.

"It's been an exciting four years. To reach 100 appearances is a massive achievement.”

It was at Harlequins, the club Jewell had supported as a child, where his career started.

His father passed clips of Jewell in action for Richmond to Quins academy coach - at the time - Colin Osbourne, who watched them and duly offered the 18-year-old a trial.

Jewell sat his last exam on a Friday and the following Monday began his career as a rugby player.

"In the space of three weeks I went from planning to do a gap-year teaching to being offered a one-year full-time academy contract at Harlequins. It wasn't great for my A-Levels,” he said.

"It was great though. Suddenly I was playing and training with people I'd grown up watching.

"I never really had it in my head that I would be a rugby player and then to be playing with the likes of Andrew Mehrtens and Andre Vos, and be coached by Dean Richards, was an unbelievable experience.”

Jewell made only 13 appearances during his four years at Quins and he's brutally honest in his own assessment as to why.

"I may not have been as diligent or taken it as seriously as I probably should have done looking back, but it's made me the player and the character I am now,” said Jewell, who left Quins in 2010 and signed a dual contract with Wasps and Esher.

"That was the season I realised I probably hadn't been as professional as I should have been.

"The work ethic and the gym was something at Wasps I realised I hadn't done at Quins. That was crucial to me and helped me when I came to London Welsh.”

He did have his successes during his time at the Stoop, however. He was man of the match on his England U20s debut in 2007 and scored 23 tries in 25 starts to help Esher win promotion to the Championship in 2009/10.

His Wasps debut came off the bench at Exeter Chiefs, but perhaps inevitably his first start would come at the Stoop against Quins in the Amlin Challenge Cup.

Jewell marked his Stoop return with a try having initially meant to be a travelling reserve, only for Josh Lewsey to pull out and Ben Jacobs to pick up an injury in the warm up. Jewell started a 13 – a position he'd never played before.

"Luckily I'd filled in at 13 during the week and it couldn't have gone much better. The fact that it was against Quins made me a bit more comfortable - it was nice to just be chucked in and to just go with it,” he said.

Lyn Jones brought Jewell to London Welsh in 2011 and he helped the club to Championship success that season, but it was the following season that he secured his place in the club's folklore – kicking the winning conversion against Exeter Chiefs at the Kassam Stadium to secure the Exiles their first-ever Premiership win.

"That was great. I got put on to chase the game with ten minutes to go. We ended up scoring and I remember running over and celebrating, but then realising 'I've got to kick this',” added Jewell.

"I tell everyone it was five yards from the touchline, but luckily it was only five or ten metres to the left of the posts.

"I took it back further than I probably should have, but I was worried about getting charged down.

"I just said to myself, 'I've worked too hard to get to this position to miss this kick'. There was no chance I was going to miss it.

"It was a great moment for the club - to get that first win was huge. It was a great moment in my career and to be the one that got the winning points was great, but the credit goes to the whole team.”