1st XV
Matches
Sat 22 Jan 2022  ·  London 1S
Horsham
27
20
London Cornish RFC
1st XV
Tries: M Hakes (2)Conversions: G Kimmins (2)Penalties: G Kimmins (2)
Hakes at the Double But Horsham Hold On!

Hakes at the Double But Horsham Hold On!

Dickon Moon25 Jan 2022 - 21:04
Share via
FacebookTwitter
https://www.londoncornishrfc.c

Exiles land losing bonus point on the road.

For the fourth consecutive London 1 South match London Cornish demonstrated that they will provide far sterner opposition in the remaining matches of the season than they did in the previous 11 as they went down by 7 points at Horsham’s Coolhurst HQ on Saturday in front of a decent crowd swelled by a vocal phalanx of Cornish support clad in black & gold. The home side landed 5 tries and deserved their win, but their visitors made them work hard to remain on top to the very end.
On a still, mild cloudy day Cornish opened the match on Horsham’s synthetic pitch playing away from the other pitches and into a slight breeze. The home side gave notice of their intentions by working the ball immediately to their dangerous right wing, whose angled run took him clear from halfway until he was tracked down and felled 5 out by the rapid Chris Wright, forcing a knock on for Cornish to clear. Aware of the changes in the home midfield, the visitors sought to close the space down as quickly as possible when the ball went wide, a tactic that was to pay dividends throughout. On 6 minutes Cornish forced the home side to spill the ball on halfway, where it was gathered by Matt Hakes, who took the ball to the house despite the attentions of the cover, George Kimmins making it a 7 pointer. It took some time for Horsham to adapt to the midfield pressure and in this early part of the game they frequently knocked the ball on. On 15 minutes the concession of consecutive penalties forced Cornish on the defensive and try as they might, they could not prevent one of the home forwards from burrowing his way over wide right for an unconverted try. A period of kick tennis followed notable only for Adam Wheeler receiving an errant boot to the head when on the floor retrieving a loose ball, him unable to continue much longer and replaced by NMS. On 24 minutes a series of driving exiles runs caught the home backs offside just outside their 22, Kimmins extending his sides lead back to 5 points with the kick. To their huge frustration, Cornish knocked on the restart and were not in shape to prevent Horsham from levelling up the score with another try wide out, this one also not improved. On 35 minutes and again under pressure from Hakes and Dan Phoenix in midfield, Horsham shelled another pass. Hakes was onto it in a flash and in a foot race with the home back twice fly hacked on before regathering the ball in the in-goal area for another poachers try, Kimmins adding a decent conversion. Beginning to become frustrated by their error count, the home sides mood was not improved when they were called back for a forward pass when well placed on 38 minutes. From the scrum, Cornish pick and drive, NMS, James La Broy, Dave Theobald, Joe Lynch and Tony Pellow all involved until a Horsham hand was spotted scooping the ball back on the floor. Up stepped Kimmins and with his unerring boot, he took his team out to a 20-10 half-time lead with another great kick.
Cornish made a change at the break, bringing AML back into the fray at 9 for John Hughes, the former returning from a spell working in the US. From the off in the 2nd half it quickly became apparent that Horsham were after tries, eschewing kicks bang in front for chances to kick for touch and roll mauls. As it turned out, they did score 5 tries but none of them came from mauls! Their first came from their opening foray into the exiles 22 on 43 minutes, a wing cutting through the pack to score wide right for an unconverted try to narrow the deficit to 5. 5 minutes later and Cornish were aghast to see a try awarded after a long kick through was fumbled on the floor deep in their 22 by the exiles, only for the onrushing Horsham attacker to equally fumble the ball before gathering it in goal for a try to be awarded, the scores now level as this kick also flew wide. A long Kimmins kick on 56 minutes gave his side field position when the home back sliced his clearance and, as Dave Chalkley claimed the ball, Cornish set a maul which carried play deep into the 22 before being pulled down, the exiles again disappointed to be penalised for holding. Back came Horsham as the game opened up, forced out 5 out from the exiles line. They set their maul, which was repelled and as the ball was worked across the pitch in front of the posts, Cornish pinged again and AML consigned to the bin for not rolling away, around 20 minutes still left in the game. There was now constant pressure from the home side, a man to the good and Horsham at one pointing benefitting from a 19 phase advantage for a penalty. On 67 minutes Cornish cleared long and though the kick chase was good, when the reply came no one claimed it, Horsham gleefully pocketing the bouncing ball and their 9 sneaking through a gap to saunter over by the posts to give his side the lead for the first time in the match, the conversion good. The exiles were not done, Ed McCord claiming the restart and powering to 5 out only for the ball to be ripped from a supporting players grasp as he took the offload. With 10 minutes left, Hakes won a penalty for holding and Cornish took a quick tap. The home side downed the runner but 5 metres away from the tap and must have been stunned not to have been marched back 10, winning a penalty for holding instead. 72 on the clock and a break in play – Cornish politely queried with the referee about the sin bin, now 12 minutes after AML was sent there. To their surprise and that of the Horsham coaching team, they were told there were still 5 minutes remaining on the bin, which was clearly a mistake (your correspondent keeps notes on all timings and breaks in play as you might suspect!). Eventually, and certainly not 5 minutes later AML returned but with time all but up. In the remaining minutes of the match the exiles could not find the continuity they required to level things up and it was the home side who won a ball on the floor on half way who were content to wallop it into touch to claim their 5 points.
Horsham RFC is one of those grounds set a little way outside the town in a very rural setting. To see it at its best it needs to be packed like it was on this day, 3 matches running concurrently as their 1s, 2s and 3s all hosted teams from across the south-east and Quins U18 side following the 1s match with one of their own. A top post match feed, great locally brewed real ale and a committee who behave the same win, lose or draw makes this one of those places like Thurrock RFC and Tottonians RFC where you could wile away the time well into the evening were it not for the journey home! Lets hope battle is rejoined next season when we might put on a coach!
Cornish still have plenty of improvement in them as this game demonstrated and have a few more weapons to display yet too. It should be a fun last 9 matches!

Match details

Match date

Sat 22 Jan 2022

Kickoff

14:00

Competition

London 1S

League position

9
Horsham
13
London Cornish
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

Kit Supplier - VX3