The formbook will go out of the window when London Welsh face rivals Esher at Moseley Road on Friday (7:45pm).

The Exiles go into the game on the back of wins over Rotherham Titans and Plymouth Albion, while Esher have lost their last three, but come Friday night under lights, form will count for nothing according to London Welsh second row Mike Powell.

“I’m sure they’ll be fired up for it; we’ve watched videos of them and they look a good side, so it’ll definitely be a hard game. They’re still performing on the pitch, but just not getting the results,” he said.

“Form goes out of the window in derby games, and we don’t want to be getting ahead of ourselves. We’ve had a couple of good results but we know we still have a lot of work to do.

Powell captained the Exiles the last time the two sides met at Moseley Road, when a 32-21 win for Welsh effectively confirmed Esher’s relegation to what became National League One. He’ll be hoping for a similar result on Friday, but knows all too well from experience the challenge that awaits the Exiles.

“I’ve played a couple of games against Esher now, home and away, and they are always tough games. That game was especially tough because there was a lot riding on it for Esher,” said Powell.

Esher may have lost their last three league matches to Nottingham, Worcester and Bedford, but their 29-27 round 2 win against Bristol showed exactly how dangerous they can be on home soil. A result which followed up an impressive opening weekend victory at Moseley.

“Moseley is a very hard place to go and they got a result, and they backed that up a week later at home to Bristol,” said Powell.

“We’re expecting a very physical challenge; they’ve got some good ball carriers in both the forwards and backs. They’ve got both plans; they can stick in up the jumper or run it from everywhere.”

Welsh go in to Friday’s derby on the back of a 39-10 victory over Rotherham at Old Deer Park. It was the Exiles’ second consecutive bonus-point win at home and lifted Phil Greening’s side up to third in the table.

Stiff competition for places this season, though, has meant that Powell has had to be patient behind Matt Corker and Martin Purdy for starting opportunities. But for Powell that’s definitely a positive.

“It keeps me on my toes and I know I have to train hard all week. To be fair to Phil he says ‘if you train hard and play well (for London Irish in the A League) you’ll get your chance and when you do get your chance you know you’ve got to keep on performing every week to keep the shirt,” said Powell, who joined Welsh from the Ospreys in 2008 and captained the club in his first season.

A packed Moseley Road on Friday night under lights should provide the perfect setting for what promises to be a cracking derby, and Powell is looking forward to it.

“The atmosphere under lights on a Friday night is one I enjoy, and hopefully it’ll bring a big crowd out. It all adds to the atmosphere,” he said.

Visit www.London-welsh.co.uk to read the full interview with Mike Powell.