Rusty Cornish See Red in Regents Park!

A dour match played out in wintry conditions between two sides struggling for form on the top pitch in Regents Park saw the hosts Belsize Park deservedly land the spoils against London Cornish in Regional 2 Thames on Saturday. The home side struck early before the exiles were reduced to 14 men for 52 minutes and 13 men for 10 minutes of that time, which blew away the visitors gameplan. With a lack of fit locks still an issue, Cornish had had to throw the returning David Chalkley into the starting line up with no prep match. There was also a recall for Ciaran Slater at loosehead to replace Joe Lynch, who was called in to work.
The game began with a very strong wind in the exiles favour and rain sheeting down on a sodden pitch. It was clear from the outset that winning lineout ball was going to prove crucial and Park won this aspect of the game hands down in the opening period as a curiously pliant exiles side lost the battle of the gainline. An early warning saw a Park rolling maul held up over the line on 4 minutes and only sterling defensive work from a retreating Robbie Mackay prevented a score from a chip in behind. However, the home side fashioned an overlap wide right on 9 minutes to send their right wing in at the flag, the conversion attempt into the wind not troubling the scorers. With Cornish being pinged at every breakdown it was not long before BP were back on the offensive, this time fashioning room wide left to send their other wing in at the flag, a despairing last ditch Ed McCord tackle costing the lad any further involvement in the match, Will Carew-Gibbs on in his stead, 20 minutes gone. At the restart, Park used the same move for the third time and this time it was ended out wide by a clothesline tackle, rightly costing Cornish a man to the bin. The home side hammered away at the fringes for a period now, only ended when a huge Mike McEwen tackle 5 out forced a knock on. However, the visitors were too slow to react to a quick tap on 26 minutes allowing BP to break through yet again to score out wide for their third unconverted try, now 15-0 up against 14 men. No sooner had Cornish had numbers restored, they lost another man to the bin for an unspecified offence though this may have been a case of mistaken identity given he was not near the ruck where the offence took place. Park kicked for position and at the subsequent lineout, an exiles player jumped early, slipped as he landed to fall right under the jumping BP lock, who was effectively taken out as he came down. The yellow card was awarded and, since he was one of those already carded, this meant an early bath for the Cornish forward, the whistle sounding for the break shortly afterwards with the visitors set to play the opening 9 minutes of the 2nd half with 13 men.
Cornish made a planned change at the break, withdrawing Chalkley with another player returning from a long term injury in Alex Davey. Rather than use the extra 2 men, BP kicked for territory in a surprisingly cagey opening 10 of the 2nd half. Though this meant Cornish had to counter from deep into the wind, it also built confidence in their handling, George Bromage, Matt Hakes and Dan Phoenix returning kicks with interest, though Hakes interest was ended early as the exiles swapped him for another returning from injury in George Kimmins, him slotting in at 10, Edworthy moving to full back. It did not take long for Carew-Gibbs to make his mark, him winning the first of four penalties he would win in the last 40 for holding in the opening minutes. Now also winning penalties in the tight, the travelling faithful would be right in asking where this level of performance was in the opening half, Cornish restored to 14 with no further addition to the score. On 59 minutes, and after a series of bursts by McEwen, Tony Pellow, Davey and Robjohn, the exiles took play to the home 22, where first the hosts were marched back 10, then they lost their hooker to the bin for killing the ball 5 out. Though they won the ball from the subsequent penalty on the floor, Park threw a forward pass 10 out from their own line. At the scrum a Cornish set play put Mackay one on one with his opposite number; no contest and the visitors were over wide left, the conversion attempt falling short. The next score would be crucial in determining the outcome of this match and battle was now well and truly joined with the exiles finally having woken from their slumber in all facets of the game. However, having calmed for 20 minutes or so now the elements also returned with a vengeance into the faces of the visitors. With 10 left Park kicked two penalties deep into the exiles 22. They won the lineout and picked their way to the shadow of the posts, where one of their forwards bunny hopped over the ruck to score their bonus point try, this one converted. This took the game out of the exiles reach and in the remaining minutes they lost Brogden to a knock to be replaced by Hakes. The final act of the match saw Francis Birch in action down the right wing where he was felled by a suspiciously unpenalized tackle, which cut his head. Cornish had only lost the 2nd half by 7-5 into the wind and down 1 or 2 men, but they will rue the poor start.
The post match at Belsize Park is, like Cornish, some distance from the ground with very limited local parking in a pub that does not serve real ale (“Real ale, what’s that?” asked the barman!). It was packed to the rafters in the small room allocated to the rugby club (our more tenured supporters might recall the room at the Green Man we used to use) and the hosts were clearly delighted with their bonus point win. We look forward to renewing hostilities with them again next season when we hope to put up more resistance!
Cornish can take the fact that 3 of their long term injured successfully returned to the fray as a positive from this match as they can in the manner in which they played in the 2nd half. It was a rusty performance overall hampered as it was by the cards and the exiles will require a few steps forward to return to winning ways!