In Form Cornish Topple A&C!

London Cornish made light of the absence of a series of regulars when they toppled 2nd placed visitors Amersham & Chiltern in Regional 2 Thames at the REMPF on Saturday, in the process ending the Bucks sides title challenge and snapping their 7 match winning run. The outcome of the match was in doubt right up until the final whistle and the visitors will point to a disallowed try late on (closer to the posts from where they scored shortly afterwards), a charged down conversion from in front of the posts and a missed conversion with the last kick of the match as key moments that on another day might have seen them win the game and still be in the title hunt. However, the exiles have repeatedly demonstrated home and away against A&C and Old Priorians and away at Cobham that they can mix it with the top sides in the league this season so perhaps this result should not be such a surprise.
With regular tight head Dave Theobald, locks Tom Carr and Mike McEwen, open side Ed McCord and top try scorer Robbie Mackay all absent from the previous weeks victorious side, Cornish called upon veteran prop Mark O’Leary for the second time this season, David Chalkley and Adam Wheeler stepping in to the row, Alex Davey returning in the back row and Fergus Gibson stepping in on the wing. This meant Cornish would play without their main maul defusers in Carr and WCG, a worry for the home coaching team.
Playing towards the clubhouse with a breeze at their backs on the 2nd pitch at the REMPF, it did not take long for the Bucks side to trouble the scorers, predictably the source a rolling maul on 5 minutes, which was converted from wide out by the visiting kicker. The try precipitated a sustained period of Cornish pressure with multiple phases seeing almost every player in the team making carries to drive the visitors deeper and deeper into their 22. Eventually, with an advantage, a Niko Mirosevic-Sorgo run gave George Jackson the room to send Chalkey crashing over on the far left hand touchline for an unconverted try on 10 minutes, battle joined after Gibson had demonstrated his own brand of elusive running. Crucially, this passage of play cost Amersham their giant lock on whom their maul seemed to depend and it also weakened them in the tight where they would soon be under real pressure. Twice in the next 10 minutes Cornish attacked but final passes went awry or were knocked on, once when Davey and Oscar Cruz combined and on the second occasion when Jackson, Matt Hakes, Ben Boorman and George Bromage took play to 10 out after an O’Leary burst before the ball was lost. On 25 minutes Davey was unceremoniously dump tackled on the As 22 but the penalty attempt was unusually pulled wide from in front by Kimmins, who would not be long in making amends! Jackson was the architect of his teams next points, fielding a kick on his 22 then weaving a path through attempted tackles to take play deep into the visitors half. Edworthy spun a pass to Kimmins who dummied his way through a gap, stepped out of a tackle, handed off the cover and took the ball to the house to the right of the posts (pictured), converting his own score. 5 minutes later and Cornish had added to their score when Edworthy, noting that the visiting full back had joined the line, chased after his own grubber on the 22 to regather and dive over under the posts virtually unopposed for his sides third try, improved by Kimmins to make the score 19-7. With 5 minutes left on the half, the visitors would need to score next to stay in the game and they finally put together a decent passage of play resulting in a penalty kicked to 10 out down the right side. They set their maul and as it was halted one of their number smuggled the ball free unseen by the home d to dive over for a try, converted by his kicker to leave the score at the break 19-14 to the home side.
Carrying the momentum into the start of the 2nd half, Amersham upped their game, though their 8 was increasingly having to work wonders to protect ball in the tight. On 45 minutes one of their forwards managed to free his arms in a tackle and shovel an inside pass to a supporting back to arrow away from the cover and dive over under the posts to the joy of his teams support. Crucially, the visiting kicker took the conversion attempt from very close in and his run up was slow enough for Boorman to be able to charge down the kick, the scores now level at 19 all. On 50 minutes Cornish won a scrum penalty and again launched a 5 minute period of attacks inside the visitors 22, eschewing kickable penalties for scrums 5 out with Ciaran Slater (who enjoyed another fine all round game, Tony Pellow and O’Leary dominant). The visitors d is the second best in the league and now they showed why, a huge tackle count racked up as the exiles worked this way and that for a gap to appear. Just when it appeared the danger had been cleared the home side struck. Davey and Cruz made the initial incisions and O’Leary was used as a decoy for Edworthy to send a flat pass to the waiting Hakes wide left. He darted into the 22, stepped inside to take out the full back, and flicked an inside pass to Chalkley to take two tacklers over the line with him for the bonus point try, well converted by Kimmins. Cornish withdrew O’Leary for Mark Osei-Tutu (Cruz moving into the front row) and shortly afterward NMS too for Conor Pearce to come on as the efforts of the close quarter combat began to take their toll on both sides. On 2 occasions in the next 10 minute period Amersham worked their way into the Cornish 22 but lost the ball in tackles for Edworthy to clear the danger. On 76 minutes the exiles lost a man to the bin for blocking a player after he had taken a quick tap pen. 2 minutes later the dangerous As centre twisted his way over near the posts but was deemed held up in the melee of players on the floor. This resulted in a second yellow card for Cornish, who would play the last minute or so with 13 players. Continuing to tap and go to land their bonus point try, the visitors took the ball to the line twice more but were stopped short before eventually flinging a cutout pass wide left for their wing to step over, though he was prevented from angling in to the posts so the conversion would be a challenge, the referee indicating that this would be the last kick. Into the wind this kick would be a tough one but the lad never caught it well and it was pulled well left, the final whistle sounding to the delight of the home players and supporters, 2 points to the good at the end.
When these 2 teams met at the start of the season it was Cornish who missed a penalty with the final play to land the spoils and here the roles were reversed though this was a conversion to level things up, 2 points between the teams on both occasions. Though obviously disappointed with the outcome, the visitors can hold their heads up high after a fine season and they will want to end on a high with their final game at home next weekend. They have clearly improved since their 8th placed finish in London 1 North last season and will aim to be in the promotion mix again in 2023-24 – we wish them well and look forward to 2 more tight matches next season.
Cornish have taken their pre season stretch goal of a top half finish down to the last game. Back to back bonus point wins against higher placed opponents demonstrate that the spirit in the camp is good and belief has returned to the squad too. One more league game to go and then the focus turns to the Cup!