London Scottish have started their Championship Cup campaign in similar fashion to their league showings according to Exiles wing Miles Mantella.

After an opening round win in woeful conditions against fierce rivals Richmond, they were on the end of a 41-10 defeat at Jersey in round two ahead of this Friday’s visit of Ealing to the RAG.

Mantella, who sandwiched two seasons with Ealing in between his Scottish career says the cup run has echoed their inconsistent league form.

“It’s been an indifferent start to the cup,” the 27-year-old said.

“After a good win over Richmond it’s disappointing to follow it up the way we did at Jersey.

“The frustrating thing is we started well, something we haven’t really done at all this season but we let it go in the second half.”

Top Six

Scottish currently sit eighth in the Championship after nine-rounds of matches. Mantella, who’s amassed 46 tries in his Exile career said the frustration arises because he knows the team have the potential to be challenging higher up the table.

“We’d probably say our league position is a fair reflection of our season so far. It’s no secret we’ve been working on starting matches quicker, but we’ve left ourselves to much to do on too many occasions and scraped losing bonus points.

“We know we have to put in performances for 80-minutes and not just for a half.

“The Doncaster defeat (the final game before Cup matches) was particularly disappointing, I really believed it would’ve pushed us on. Outside the top three in the league it’s close, and a win over Donny would’ve put us in good contention to fight for a top six spot.”

READ: Australia pair could be ruled out of England clash

Looking ahead to Fridays game Mantella said Ealing's visit, who sit second in the league, will be everything you expect from a side boasting Premiership rugby aspirations.

“Ealing, are a different beast to us, they are at a different place to where we are at the moment.

“They have a huge squad and will no doubt make a few changes but they are a very good side.

“They’ll definitely bring some physicality and it should be a good game under the Richmond lights.”

Progression

Speaking of what Scottish want to get out of the game Mantella cited improvement and progression.

“We haven’t had a settled backline this season through injury so now it’s a chance to work on combinations, but at the same time we want to win every game.

“We don’t have a huge squad, but with the new players coming in we have a quality squad and under the coaches we feel like we are moving forward.

"Against Ealing we can see where we are, because they are where we want to be.”