Cornish Land 'Must Win' Game!

In the battle between the bottom pair at the REMPF in Regional 2 South-East on Saturday, it was London Cornish who finally prevailed, beating regular opponents Cobham for the first time since April 2019 to land themselves a lifeline in the battle to beat the drop. Fly half Mike Edworthy was the architect of the win, him landing 22 points on the day.
On an overcast but dry day after a week of continuous rain, the match began in front of a decent crowd on the 2nd pitch out from the clubhouse, the exiles playing away from the building in the opening half. In keeping with recent matches, it was Cornish who opened the scoring with an Edworthy penalty on 3 minutes following an up and under executed and regathered by George Jackson, which gave his side field position. Cobham responded immediately, catching their hosts too narrow in their d and sending a back over wide left, though the conversion attempt struck the outside of the near upright so the score wasn’t improved. On 8 minutes, and after a driving Robbie Mackay run to the 10m line, Edworthy regained his side a lead they would not relinquish again in the match with another penalty. For the next 10 minutes the hosts laid siege to the visitors tryline, Matt Hakes having taken play deep into the Cob 22. Twice winning penalties wide out, the home side elected for scrums as they had a nudge on in the early exchanges. Sterling defence kept them at bay, George Kimmins so close to being able to free up his hands 5 out to offload to Mackay, the ball lost forward in the effort. Finally, on 18 minutes Cornish elected for a scrum from a penalty wide out awarded for a high tackle. From the scrum the ball was worked across the field before a high cut out pass was plucked out of the air by wing George Bromage. With an acrobatic twist he brought the ball down and twisted past a tackle to plant the ball over the line for a great finish, the conversion not landed but the lead out to 11-5. Cobham responded immediately, helped by them claiming the restart on the gallop, but first Skipper Alex Davey and then fellow Cornishman Tony Pellow won penalties inside their own 22 on the floor. Undeterred, the visitors came back for more, and caught their hosts offside in midfield smack in front, their kicker reducing the arrears to 3 with half an hour gone. On 32 minutes a Cobham clearing kick landed in the arms of Bromage well inside his own half. He beat a man then offloaded to Mackay arriving at pace on his shoulder just inside the visitors half. The full back cut inside then out before sending a ball inside to Edworthy to clear away and slide over under the posts to the obvious delight of his team and the Cornish support, the fly half converting his own try to stretch the lead back out to 18-8. In the closing minutes of the half Cobham kicked a penalty to 5 out wide left, but when they rolled their maul to the line Dave Theobald broke it up allowing Jackson to wedge himself under the ball carrier to deny the score and end the half.
Cornish took a firmer grip on the game a couple of minutes after the restart when the visitors were caught offside at a box kick, Edworthy producing a fine kick from distance to extend the lead to 13 points. With a fine battle developing in midfield where Pete Brogden and Kimmins are establishing a decent understanding, both teams sought to spread the ball wide, but on 48 minutes the Surrey side found a way back into the game when they scrambled over wide left for well converted try. This try saw Mike McEwen temporarily rolled off for Oscar Cruz to replace him, Adam Wheeler moving into the row. Cruz made an instant impact, palming the restart back for Theobald to pick up and drive deeper into the Cobham half where he was felled by a high tackle. Once again, this was a long distance attempt and once again Edworthy was equal to it, increasing the lead to 24-15. A few minutes later and Cobham were over again, this time a tap and go catching the exiles off guard and again this one improved, Jackson rested at this point for Ciaran Johnston to return following an injury absence of a few weeks. On the hour mark Brogden threaded a great grubber kick into the visitors 22 right hand side. Tom Carr forced the knock on at the line out and Cornish brought McEwen back on for Mark Osei-Tutu to be given a break. Twice reset, the scrum wheeled slightly for the exiles as Mat Hand took a firm grip on his opposite number, his side working the ball into midfield where the visitors were caught offside after Mackay had joined the line, the point blank kick the easiest Edworthy had had all afternoon, the lead back out to a precious 5 points, Jimmy New on shortly afterwards to give Theobald a rest. On 68 and 70 minutes Cobham worked their way to the exiles 22 but first Davey then Wheeler won penalties on the floor. On 72 minutes the visitors kicked a penalty to 10 out in Terry’s Corner but when their maul was held, a great defensive set saw the ball knocked on out wide for Johnston to launch a huge clearing kick to half way. With time almost up McEwen burst through a tackle on half way and seemed destined to score only to be felled in the shadow of the posts and then lose the ball forwards in the act of offloading. This action forced Cobham to run the ball from deep and with the final play they did just that only for a cut out pass to draft into touch on half way for the final whistle to sound, Cornish the victors by 5 points.
Matches between these two clubs are never just about the onfield action and the two sets of players and supporters carried on post match well into the evening. It should be added that Cobham lost both starting locks to injuries during the match and we hope they both make speedy recoveries. It may well be that these two clubs will see each other for the fourth season in a row in a fourth different division in 2024-25, but both will give it their all in the closing weeks. For Cornish, this was at the very least a start…