Jon Mills may have been Sky Sports’ man of the match for a typical leading from the front display in Wednesday’s 1st Leg Championship final victory over the Cornish Pirates, but the London Welsh captain is having none of it.

The Exiles ran in four tries in a 37-21 win at Mennaye Field to inflict a first home defeat on the Pirates since October, with the Welsh skipper walking away with the champagne. But for Mills, it was all about the team.

“They did give it to me, but I was a bit surprised,” he said. “Everyone was man of the match in my eyes.

“The boys did their jobs really well. It was a really good team effort; this side will work all day for each other.

“It’s a tough place to come but we stuck to our game plan and we got the result we wanted.

“Both sides look to play rugby and I think it was a really good advertisement for the Championship.”

The build up to Wednesday’s game was dominated by the RFU’s decision that London Welsh had not met the Minimum Standards Criteria (MSC). Mills admitted that the verdict had a galvanising affect on the team.

“We all aspire to get to the Premiership – we want to get London Welsh to the Premiership. That’s why we’re here, that’s why we’re professionals - we want to play at the top table,” he said.

“London Welsh is a great club and should be there. It wasn’t ideal but maybe it galvanised us a bit - we’re a good team.”

Welsh will take a 16-point lead into the 2nd Leg of the final at the Kassam Stadium, Oxford, next Wednesday (May 30) and Mills is expecting a backlash from the Pirates.

“The Pirates will come firing back at us, but we’ve got to look after our game. We’re comfortable with our game,” he said.

“We’re going to keep playing; we can’t go into our shells. That’s what we did against Bedford - we tried to hold a lead.

“The Pirates will have nothing to lose, they’re going to throw the ball about and we’ve got to be ready for that.

“We’ve got to concentrate on our game and on our defence for 80 minutes, and make sure we take the attack to the Pirates. If we can score a few points quickly it might kill the game off.”