LONDON Welsh have given themselves hope of progressing in the British & Irish Cup, but cannot look beyond this weekend.

That is the verdict of assistant coach Gordon Ross ahead of Sunday’s Pool 2 clash with Pontypridd at the Kassam Stadium (3).

Welsh trail them and London Scottish by three points, meaning they have to win their two remaining matches to stand any chance of claiming top spot, with only the pool winners guaranteed to progress.

Fly half Ross may play some part this weekend after sitting out Saturday’s 33-26 victory at Jersey in the Greene King IPA Championship.

“We knew that having lost to Pontypridd and London Scottish, we would have to beat them in the return games,” said Ross.

“It is an old cliche, but we are looking to take each of these games as they come.

“If we get through this weekend, we will look to the weekend after.

“It is primarily about trying to improve our performance.

“Hopefully we will get the rewards from that.”

Welsh used Maidenhead’s 3G pitch to train on yesterday with their usual base at Old Deer Park struggling to cope with the rain.

But there are no concerns over the playing surface at the Kassam Stadium.

“The pitches are pretty wet at Old Deer Park,” said Ross.

“But we can get down to Maidenhead pretty quickly and have a much better session.”