Gordon Ross interview: 'It was horrible – to work so hard and see it taken away'

Ross lifts the lid on London Welsh’s traumatic season: that crushing points deduction, relegation, off-field chaos and a sense the world was against them. But, he tells Chris Hewett, the Exiles will be back soon

Gordon Ross (left) at an empty Kassam Stadium in Oxford and (above) in action for London Welsh against Exeter (Getty Images)

Picture the scene and weep. The rump of an injury-riddled London Welsh team are sitting in the home dressing room at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford, gathering their thoughts ahead of a game against a powerhouse Northampton side that, if lost, will see them relegated from the Premiership. They have been stripped of five league points through no fault of their own; most of their best players are struggling to walk, let alone run; their chief executive has called it a day. Oh yes, one other thing. They have just been told that the man with all the money is pulling the plug.

On the basis that there is only so much flesh and blood can stand, it is a minor miracle that the Exiles finish as close to their vastly experienced, lavishly financed opponents as they do (14-31). Not that it is nearly close enough. At the final whistle, the die is cast. Some players drop to their knees, others are in tears. A good number of them will not be at the club when training resumes in late June.

"You won't be surprised when I tell you it was an emotional day," says Gordon Ross, the resourceful little outside-half from Edinburgh. "Emotional for all sorts of reasons, and quite difficult to handle. It was always going to be a hard game to win, and when we heard the news about Kelvin just beforehand... well, you have to wonder whether the timing was absolutely right. I'm not saying it made a difference to the result, but it certainly didn't make things easier."

Ross is talking about Kelvin Bryon, the Exiles' majority shareholder, the man who kept the club in business when they were threatened with liquidation in 2009 and then provided the cash for their unexpected dash into the top flight. After 20 years as a London Welsh loyalist, Bryon decided last week that he no long wanted anything to do with those who run the game in this country – people he believed had not wanted his team to be promoted to the top flight in the first place and had made it devilishly difficult for them to stay there.

There are many who sympathise with him, for London Welsh faced obstacles that were as close to insurmountable as it is possible to imagine. The governing classes took so long to confirm their promotion, the recruitment window was effectively closed to them and they struggled to make the necessary squad-strengthening signings. They were also limited to a beggar's share of the monies from the central pot – Bryon has accused the authorities of contravening competition law in this regard – and landed with an early fixture list from hell. Then came the scandal over Tyson Keats, who unknowingly played 10 games on false registration papers filed by the now disgraced team manager Mike Scott, and the subsequent loss of those five life-sustaining Premiership points.

For much of the campaign, Ross and Keats played together at the hub of the team, and when the Scot reflects on the controversy surrounding his partner, there is genuine sadness in his voice.

"When Tyson first came to us, he was a typical New Zealand scrum-half: tough, ultra-confident, full of enthusiasm for the game, a guy who was happy to bully the forwards into giving him what he wanted and really drive us as a team. When it all happened, there was the usual mickey-taking stuff, with players laying the blame for everything at Tyson's feet.On the outside, he seemed his usual self. But I think it affected him more than people thought. Maybe it wasn't obvious to the supporters in the stands, but when you saw him in the dressing room you could sense that some of his confidence was falling away.

"It was horrible, if I'm honest. When you work so hard to achieve something – and believe me, we had to scrap and sweat just to give ourselves a chance of securing a losing bonus point – and then see things taken away for reasons that have nothing to do with you, it's hard to take. Initially, some people at the club were telling us not to worry – they thought we'd be fined, not docked points. When it worked out the way it did, it was a real kick in the pants.

"We'd been such an honest group of players. For something like that to flare up, when what you want to be remembered for is what you've done on the pitch… it was very tough to take."

Another of the squad's hardships was orthopaedic in nature. All Premiership clubs take it for granted that their medics will be working all the hours God sends from early September to early May, but some are better equipped to absorb injuries than others. London Welsh fell squarely into the latter category, and given their lack of depth, the lengthy absences of, among others, Phil Mackenzie, Hudson Tonga'uiha, Franck Montanella, Neil Briggs, Ed Jackson and the celebrity midfielder Gavin Henson knocked the stuffing out of them.

"Gavin trained really hard in pre-season and as a result, it was my expectation that he'd be the first-choice 10 and that I wouldn't be starting too many of the big matches," Ross says, with engaging candour. "Every day, he'd do two or three things that the rest of us simply couldn't. It's called star quality.

"In the big home game against Sale in February – a match we really should have won – he was the best player on the pitch by a mile. Unfortunately for us, he didn't stay fit. We needed him right through the season, but for long spells we didn't have him.

"I suppose the truth of it is that, leaving aside all the unforeseeable problems, we didn't have quite enough quality to cope with the demands of the Premiership. Effectively, we were a team initially put together for a Championship campaign, with some people recruited at short notice on top. That's why we started the season playing next to no rugby. Our forwards went far better than many expected – I was pretty surprised myself – and they gave us the platform for some early successes. But once the opposition started finding ways of stopping them, we struggled to bring a different balance to our game. We became so desperate to pull things out of the hat, we lost our structure. A lot of the time, we were almost the last people who knew what we'd do next.

"But I'm proud to say that there was never any drop off in spirit or endeavour. We developed a real sense of togetherness and we were coached outstandingly well by Lyn Jones. Going forward, Lyn is the one we have to keep. He can be a very funny guy, but he also has the rare ability to get a side playing with real feeling and he knows what he's doing on the training field. You always come away from one of his sessions feeling you've learnt something."

With only two "dead" games left to them – at London Irish this afternoon, followed by a valedictory contest with Worcester at the Kassam in a fortnight – players' thoughts are beginning to drift to next season. Ross has already made up his mind. At 35, he is about to sign a contract extension keeping him at the club for another two years.

"We're bound to lose a few of our more ambitious players," he acknowledges, "but continuity is going to be crucial as we readjust to life in the Championship and I hope we can keep hold of at least one player in each position. That would give us a pool of people who know Lyn and understand the things he expects. Me? I believe I still have something to offer on the field and my plan is to do some coaching as well.

"I've been here three years now and I like the place. If I have one criticism, it's that there's always something going on off the pitch that shifts the focus from the rugby. It's a ticking timebomb of a club. But we've beaten some pretty good teams this season and could have beaten more. Do we feel victimised? I'm not sure we do. There are things that went against us, definitely, but the overriding feeling is one of pride. And now that the people here have tasted life in the Premiership, they want more. We all want to get back there if we can."