Cornish Entertain as Boorman Lands 3!

A 4 try salvo in the 15 minutes prior to the break enabled London Cornish to put this Regional 2 Thames game against London Irish Wild Geese to bed at the REMPF on Saturday, the home side running out comfortable 38-17 winners, the deficit exactly the same as the defeat they had suffered in the reverse fixture at Hazelwood back in November. The win was celebrated in front of a decent crowd of former players, many of whom had enjoyed a hearty lunch ahead of St Piran’s Day on the Sunday.
Cornish opened the match playing away from the clubhouse, what little breeze there was at their backs on a dry, overcast day, the pitch in ideal condition for running rugby. An early game of kick tennis was comprehensively won by the home side when Matt Hakes sent a spiralling kick just outside the visitors 22. The lineout was overthrown and snaffled by the ever alert George Jackson, him weaving his way into the 22 where Irish were pinged for going off their feet at a ruck, George Kimmins giving his side an early lead with 5 on the clock. From the off Irish targeted the ball rather than the carrier and it took the exiles a wee while to work this out. On 9 minutes one such a rip gave the visitors decent field position and, when an overhead pass flew above a Cornish hand trying to intercept it, they worked room to send their right wing over at the flag, the try unconverted. Just a few minutes later a carbon copy of the first real action saw another overthrown Irish lineout land in Jacksons arms, another dart and supporting carry seeing the home side win a penalty just outside the 22 on the left hand side, this also converted by Kimmins to reclaim his side the lead. On a couple of occasions in the next 10 minutes Irish had field position but first Ciaran Slater and then Niko Mirosevic-Sorgo won penalties on the floor to allow lines to be cleared. When the next score came, it was via a predictable channel. The Irish no 8 has been an outstanding ball carrier for them over many seasons and on 23 minutes he went blind from a scrum, managed to evade the first man and set up a centre to chip thru a perfectly weighted kick for their right wing to pounce for his second try in the same spot as the first, this also not improved but the visitors were now 10-6 ahead. Just a couple of minutes later Cornish responded. Winning a ball on the floor just inside the Irish half, Oscar Cruz took a ball up to lock in the visitors d. Jackson then combined with Mike Edworthy and Kimmins to send George Bromage away down the narrow side. Bromage has an uncanny knack of making the first man miss and here, in a slither of space, he freed his arms to underarm an inside pass to Ben Boorman in support, the former Red stepping off one foot then turning on the afterburners to dive over wide right (pictured), the conversion attempt sliding left. Gathering the restart, Irish attacked in the home half but a loose pass was pounced on by lock Tom Carr. The ball was worked to Dave Theobald and quickly on to Kimmins, then Edworthy, Mackay, Hakes, Edworthy again before Ed McCord arrived to draw the last man and sent Mackay away for a superb counter-attacking try to huge cheers from the gathered throng, though the conversion attempt flew wide. Buoyed by these scores, Cornish attacked again, Mike McEwen claiming the restart and cantering over half way and into the Irish 22. As the ball was worked infield it was knocked on and the visitors countered. As they approached halfway, they too lost the ball, Bromage on it in a flash and linking with Boorman arriving at pace on his outside to sprint away from the cover to score in Terry’s corner, this time the conversion attempt missing right, though the score now suddenly out to 21-10 to the home side. Constantly under pressure in the tight, the visitors enterprising 10 was finding ways to make yards with his quick feet and fast hands and on 36 minutes hard carries by the 6 and 8 saw them send a prop over wide left only for a fantastic last ditch Boorman tackle to dislodge the ball forward as the player crossed the line. This galvanised the visitors for a period but they repeatedly coughed up ball when well positioned and did so again when inside the Cornish half on 38 minutes. Adam Wheeler saw the opportunity for a counter, linking with Mackay and Hakes, the latter shrugging off 2 tackles down the left wing before an inside pass to McCord and quick hands to Boorman gave the latter the chance to pirouette through a tackle then step the full back and dive over to complete his hat-trick, converted by Kimmins to make the score 28-10 to Cornish at the break.
Irish began the 2nd half well, taking the game to their hosts from the off and winning a series of penalties to give them field position. Unusually, they eschewed kickable penalties in favour of tap and goes, but these came to nought much to their frustration as the home d held strong. The other challenge they had was that their set pieces were creaking with lineouts something of a lottery and their scrum under pressure, which hampered their back line being able to execute in much space. Clearly, they have been able to arm wrestle their way through teams with success this season but on drier ground this tactic tended to leave them open to the hungry pack of jacklers in the home pack, Slater, McCord and NMS a constant menace. Eventually the home side lost a man to the bin and the visitors finally drove over half way to the posts from the left hand touchline, the conversion narrowing the deficit to 11. At the restart, McCord won the ball in the air and when Jackson hit Carr on the reverse ball, the Irish open side hit him with a high tackle and was pinged pretty much bang in front 10 out from the 22, Kimmins taking his side back out to a 31-17 lead. Having now weathered the visitors storm, Cornish charged down a kick, the ball swept out inside his 22 by a covering Irish back, the home side able to keep play inside the Irish half for a period. Steadily, the brutality of the close combat action was taking a toll on the visitors with a number of players replaced. An Irish scrum in centre field inside the Cornish 22 on 65 minutes saw a miss move in midfield go awry, McCord on hand to take play away from danger and then Edworthy launching a raking kick that the Irish full back knocked on just outside his 22. Twice in these closing minutes Cornish were called back for forward passes that might on another day not have been called, in both cases with players running clear. However, eventually the home side did add to their score when Jackson, who caused problems for the visitors all afternoon, sniped from the 22 to 5 out and when he was finally grounded, Slater was on hand to provide the assist for NMS to simply walk over for the try converted by Kimmins. There was time in the closing minutes for 2 of the replacements in Mark Osei-Tutu and Terry Gillam to show their pace, though it was Irish on the attack in the Cornish 22 when the final whistle sounded, Cornish well worth their win.
These two teams have played each other plenty in the last couple of decades, each winning in their turn often with home advantage decisive. Win, lose or draw Irish always come back and enjoy the post match and the long standing friendships between the clubs were only enhanced again on this day. We look forward to renewing acquaintances again next season.
This is actually the first time this season Cornish have beaten one of the sides who had finished above them in London 1 South last season so it was a significant in that respect for the exiles as it highlights once again the progress made in the last 12 months. There are still goals to be achieved in the closing 2 rounds of the season so no let up yet as we return to the REMPF for the penultimate match of the season next week.