In NativeScript on Android, how do I prevent a SearchBar from gaining focus on page load?

I have a SeachBar inside a ScrollView. In iOS all is good. On Android the ScrollView automatically scrolls to the SearchBar, adds focus to it and displays the soft keyboard. I can hide the softkeyboard by adding android:windowSoftInputMode="stateHidden" as an activity in the AndroidManifest.xml file but I can't work out how to prevent the focus (and hence the auto scroll). Any help would be much appreciated.