Cornish Hammered in Local Derby!

Two sides at different stages of their respective evolutions saw a one sided affair go the way of the runaway Regional 2 Thames league leaders Hammersmith & Fulham at the REMPF on Saturday. This was one of those occasions where Cornish, who themselves have demonstrated considerable improvement since last season, simply had to say ‘chapeau’ as their every mistake was ruthlessly punished.
On a perfect playing surface in ideal conditions Cornish opened playing away from the clubhouse, the squad showing 5 changes from the previous week, notably in the pack where the home side were forced to deploy prop James Snape in the row on his return to the club. A cagey opening few minutes played out in midfield was ended when the exiles hoisted a kick over half way and though smashing the lad who caught it, simply didn’t chase as a unit, the result of which was a 4 on 1 down the narrow side that you didn’t have to be the best team in the league to exploit, the visitors 12 helping himself to a score he couldn’t convert. Fairly early on the visitors lost one of their locks to what looked like a broken schnozzle, though they actually put the exiles under pressure to begin with in the tight, a new prop certainly having an impact up front. It took a further 20ish minutes for the next action of note, Will Carew-Gibbs switching play blind to Ciaran Slater to charge on and Tom Carr to be halted by a high tackle, George Kimmins putting his side on the board with the kick. Cornish needed to consolidate at this point but with their very next attack the visitors scored when their left wing kicked ahead and their right wing followed up to scoop up the bouncing ball to score near the posts, though in sympathy with the suspicion that the lad was in front of the kick, their kicker scooped the conversion attempt right of the posts. On the half hour mark H&F scored their third try, this time executing from deep, isolating Cornish forwards out wide and breaking down the far wing to flood support runners through the gaps before the right wing pinned his ears back to dive over wide left, this try also not improved. Back came the exiles, preventing the visitors from repeating the break out from deep and winning a penalty on the floor, converted again by Kimmins. With time almost up on the half, H&F won a penalty on half way and noted Cornish had not spread across the width of the pitch, they tapped and went. Outflanking the exiles down the right, they again produced a few support runners to crash over wide right for their bonus point try, not converted to leave the score at half-time 20-6 to H&F.
Straight after the break, at which Joe Lynch replaced Dave Theobald up top, the visitors added to their score with a very soft try from a lineout 5 out, when the catcher simply found no one home and was able to gather momentum to cross the line before the home d could adequately respond, the conversion good. A few minutes later and a visiting centre gambled to pick off a pass on halfway and saunter in to the house for a try he converted, the score quickly out to 34-6 and the game over as a contest. Any semblance of a come back for Cornish was scotched at the restart, which took an oblique bounce and hurried over the dead ball line for a scrum back on half-way to the league leaders. Rewinding the ball, they sent a long pass to their wing to break through a tackle and slip the ball to a supporting player to chip ahead and regather the kick, again crossing for a try wide left, the conversion attempt well short but Hammers now 39-6 ahead, Cornish bringing on Oscar Cruz and 6 for Ed Fink, the pack now consisting of 6 front row! On 58 minutes H&F pieced together a series of phases inside the exiles 22 and once again managed to isolate a few forwards in the backs channels, a half break and offload all it took to shepherd one of their number across the line for their 8th and final try, this one improved. This passage of play saw Kimmins, who had suffered a knock in the first half permanently replaced by Kieran Rodda. At 46-6 down at home many sides would have folded, but Cornish rolled up their sleeves and demonstrated once more in the remaining 20 minutes just what a fit side they are, helped by regaining dominance in the tight. On 70 minutes hard carries by Carew-Gibbs, Adam Wheeler and Lynch saw the visitors driven back to their 22. George Jackson spun the ball to Carew-Gibbs who sent a mispass to the waiting hands of Snape to career down the left flank and dive over only for the ball to be deemed held up. Finally, the home side pieced together phases after phase in the H&F 22 before a Lynch run, Edworthy pop and Rodda angled line saw the exiles in a great position to score only for them to fail to execute a 3 on 2 on front of the scoreboard, the final whistle sounding a short time after.
Last season Hammersmith & Fulham finished 4th in a teak tough renewal of London 1 South and, following the reorgs of the leagues, they found themselves the highest placed side from last season remaining at Level 6 in the region this. This season they have improved further and have set about ensuring they have the one promotion spot wrapped up early in the New Year. On current form, there is no one in this league to prevent that and they remain a decent outfit off the pitch too, the post match demonstrating the strong links these two local clubs enjoy.
Cornish will enjoy the break week, this ridiculous structured season seeing only 2 break weeks in 16 for Level 6 clubs, some of whom don’t train or can only train once a week. The exiles have suffered one serious injury a week for the last 8 matches, which would have been curtains in recent seasons but has been more than offset by a number of new players of real calibre joining the ranks. The final match of the first half of the season follows, the exiles already 12 points better off than they managed in all of last season.