WHILST there are plenty across Britain who have reason to question the decision-making of a certain Scotsman at No.10 in the capital, it appears London Welsh have no such concerns regarding their leader named 'Gordon'.

Recruited in the summer from Guinness Premiership outfit Saracens, Gordon Ross has quickly settled into office with the Exiles at Old Deer Park.

The former Scottish international was one of a number of high-profile signings made by the Londoners during the close season. His capture was, apparently, a signal of their intent to raise the profile of a club who many observers believe could be dark horses within the Championship this season.

His new start, however, was hardly one Ross would have imagined. With Welsh placed into administration following the withdrawal of a major backer, the very future of the Dragons seemed unlikely until a last-minute rescue package helped to save the day.

Assurances were still needed from the Rugby Football Union as to the longevity of the famous club, whilst penalties were also dished out following the club's financial mess. In the end, it meant Welsh started the new Championship season with a five-point deduction.

Successive defeats to Bristol and Nottingham in their opening two fixtures compounded to their early woes but, slowly but surely, things are beginning to look upwards for the club as was proved in the way they dispatched visiting Cornish Pirates 34-10 on Saturday.

Not surprisingly, Ross was the instigator of much of their excellent work. Given an armchair ride by the juggernaut Welsh pack, all he had to do was pull the strings as the hosts helped themselves to six tries.

That it was just six was somewhat of a relief to the Pirates who, after an impressive start to their season, have now suffered three successive league defeats. This latest drubbing, though, was capital punishment at it's most gruesome.

For sure, the Cornish club can bemoan a lengthy injury list which has deprived them of some key personnel so far this term. However, there are other areas within their game that High Performance Manager, Chris Stirling, will need to address sooner, rather than later.

"That was not the performance or the outcome we were looking for," bemoaned the Kiwi at the end. "Well done to London Welsh, they definitely came and played a wide, fast, expansive game. However, there were aspects of the performance for us that were poor – and there were aspects that were good."

Starting with the good, the Pirates can at least take heart from the fact that they finished the contest the stronger of the two sides – and the displays of Mark Ireland, Dave Ward, Rhodri McAtee and Jimmy Moore, the latter as a replacement, were all notable.

The negatives, though, did out-weigh the positives and Stirling is well aware he and his squad have a busy week ahead of them as they look for solutions ahead of Sunday's visit of lowly Birmingham-Solihull to Camborne.

Among the chief concerns will be the amount of times they kicked away decent possession, plus the amount of times the visitors committed too many men to the breakdown area.

Correct those faults – plus a few others here and there – and the Pirates faithful should see their side back on the straight and narrow after a stormy few weeks.

"For me the next game can't come quick enough because I'd like to get out there and put right what was wrong today," added Stirling. "It's time like this when the character of the side starts to come out.

"We are still growing that culture and team character, as well as the strength and the ability to hang tough when the going gets tough. The pleasing thing for me was that we created numerous opportunities in the second half. We didn't finish them all, but we did get some go forward, we broke up the middle, and our support lines off that were good.

"I felt there was a definite want to put right was wrong in the first 40 minutes. Before the break we hammered their line, but once again we went to a style of play that we don't play, which is the pick-and-go game. The boys were blasted for that at half-time and we put that away in the second half and we started to control the game a wee bit better."

By then, however, much of the damage has already been done by Welsh who stormed into a 12-0 lead thanks to tries from Rob Lewis and Dominic Shabbo, the latter of which was converted by Ross.

Pirates fly-half Rhys Jones briefly cut the deficit with a penalty, but it was the home side who went further in front when Lewis was able to race over for a second time, the scrum-half darting through a line-out for Ross to convert once more.

Although the visitors countered with a decent spell of pressure just before the break, they were unable to find a way through the stubborn Welsh rearguard.

And there failure to turn their dominance into points came back to bite them when, in injury time, former Pirate Simon Whatling capitalised on a spillage from former team-mate Matt Evans on halfway to gallop his way over to make it 24-3 at the turn.

It was a harsh conclusion to the first period for the Pirates, who were then made to pay yet further when a well flighted penalty from Ross set up the home side to add a fifth score through prop Dorian Williams on 44 minutes.

Winger Errie Claassens merely rubbed salt into the exposed wounds of the Pirates when he scorched over three minutes later to make it 34-3.

Fresh impetus from the bench did help to ignite the Pirates in the final quarter. Their efforts duly rewarded when Wes Davies, who had earlier spurned a golden opportunity, glided over from an Ireland pass. Moore added the difficult conversion to complete the scoring.

Next up for the Pirates is the visit of the beleaguered Bees this weekend. One can only hope the Duchy's finest are stung back into action.