1st XV
Matches
Sat 05 Nov 2022  ·  Regional 2 Thames
London Cornish RFC
1st XV
Tries: P Brogden, G Bromage, T Pellow, R MackayConversions: G Kimmins (2)Penalties: G Kimmins
27
29
Old Priorians
Cornish Pay the Penalty as OPpo Win by 2!

Cornish Pay the Penalty as OPpo Win by 2!

Dickon Moon8 Nov 2022 - 00:18
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https://www.londoncornishrfc.c

Exiles storming comeback not quite enough!

£174 to watch an England international at Twickenham? Pah! Come watch Regional 2 Thames for free, because week in week out it is delivering humdingers and this match was another in a growing back catalogue of great matches in this inaugural season of the division. Here, 2nd placed Old Priorians spent more than 65 minutes demonstrating why they are such a tricky side to beat before 4th placed London Cornish produced a withering riposte in the closing 11 minutes that very nearly carried them past their opponents. In the event, the exiles outscored their visitors by 4 tries to 2 but paid a high price for conceding a series of kickable penalties nonchalantly converted by the Priorians kicker, a lad whose few steps up to the ball bely a hefty left boot with no shortage of accuracy either. Its weirdly agricultural but hugely effective.
With their Perivale base pitches flooded by the River Brent bursting it’s banks, OP’s were surprised to find the pitches at the REMPF in such decent condition that the only decision they had to make was whether or not to wear moulded studs. They were even more surprised when Cobham appeared an hour before kick off in order to use the loos on the way back from their 11th hour postponement at Belsize Park!
Steady rain had fallen all morning and continued at the start of the match, Cornish playing towards the clubhouse in the 1st half. Within a minute of the start of the match a pattern was set, the exiles conceding a penalty that was missed to the right. The other pattern that was clear from the outset was that OP’s would use every trick in the book throughout the match to ensure as few scrums as possible would be cleanly contested, the poor referee always on the other side of the scrum from where the action was taking place. In the opening 15 minutes every time the home side gained any meaningful possession, they were pinged and were fortunate to only see out this period one penalty behind. However, on 18 minutes OP’s struck again, a back row breaking free from the back of a lineout and careering to 5 out where 2 of his forwards were on hand to dive over the top of the ball, clearing a path for a pick and go to plunge across the line for a converted try. Seemingly stunned by the score, Cornish fell further behind a few minutes later when they coughed up the ball out wide and OP’s countered, converting a 2 on 1 to send their left wing over out wide for a well converted try, the lead suddenly 17-0. The pattern continued, Cornish making ground into the OP half but penalised, 3 times in the opening half for advancing when in front of the kicker, twice for going off their feet at a ruck, once for offside at a ruck and once for a high tackle. Just after the half hour mark this cost the exiles a forward, a team yellow conceded and another 3 points with it, 20-0 now the score. On 34 minutes OP’s had a defensive scrum 5 out and were delighted to win a penalty for the exiles dominant scrum to be pinged for boring in. With very little clean ball to speak of, the exiles back row were having to work overtime to stamp out the fires and it cost them Nick Goss on 37 minutes, him having damaged ribs, Conor Pearce on in his place. At the scrum that followed the injury on half-way, Cornish secured clean ball and Edworthy hit Pete Brogden on an oblique angle to burst through the defence, fend off the cover and slide over wide right for a fine individual try converted by his Skipper. To their great frustration however, the home side conceded another 3 for sealing off in the closing minutes of the half to turn round 23-7 down.
In the opening minutes of the 2nd period, both sides missed kickable penalties but finally now we saw the Cornish scrum given its head. On 45 minutes the exiles drove OP’s clean off their own ball and this precipitated a period of possession as George Jackson worked with his pack and with fly-half Edworthy to drive the visitors back. Eventually, after a pirouetting run from Will Carew-Gibbs supported by Mike McEwen and Niko Mirosevic-Sorgo, the ball was worked to Brogden powering into the 22 where he was felled by a high tackle. The miscreant might consider himself fortunate not to have been given a breather, but Kimmins at least reduced the deficit by 3 with the kick. Once again, it did not take long for Cornish to hand the points back, another penalty awarded for not releasing the tackled player, the score now 26-10, a mere 28 minutes remaining. The next phase was a microcosm of this opening hour for the exiles, winning a penalty kicked to 5 out, Tom Carr claiming Tony Pellow’s arrow, then Cornish pinged for a technical offence for the danger to be cleared. This last action saw Ciaran Slater replaced by Joe Lynch and Fin Robjohn for Ben Boorman. The new pair could do little but watch on as their team mates were pinged for going off their feet again on the hour mark, the kick lifting OP’s into a seemingly unassailable 29-10 lead. However, Cornish have made their mark in this league by wearing teams down like a boxer softening up his opponent before moving in for the knockout. Having won the battle at the breakdown for much of the match and stymied their hosts clear advantage in the tight, now OP’s conditioning seemingly fell off a cliff edge as the match swung completely in the exiles favour. The initial incision was made by former Redruth man Boorman, who angled outside his man to send George Bromage away down the right wing. The ball was worked to Edworthy to hit Carew-Gibbs on a pop, Pellow, Theobald and McEwen all involved before the ball was worked to Kimmins to loft the ball back to Bromage to crash over in Terry’s Corner (pictured scoring) carrying a few players with him and one round his neck, the conversion attempt flying narrowly wide. 4 minutes later and a Pellow arrow was claimed by Pearce and a rolling maul set, this driving on at pace until Pellow himself broke from the back and drove between retreating defenders before reaching out to plant the ball over the whitewash for the try, this conversion attempt slamming into the far upright and down on the wrong side but a real sense of comeback in the air and in the celebrations of the hosts. With penalties being conceded at will by OP’s, Cornish would have field position again, Edworthy, Boorman and Bromage again involved before the ball was worked to the underused Robbie Mackay lurking wide left. The arch poacher stepped the cover and took the ball to the house for the 7th time this season in his 6 matches to date, only one side having managed to stop him scoring so far. Kimmins added the extras to the bonus point try and there was time for one final piece of drama! The restart was claimed by McEwen and the ball spun wide where another high tackle saw OP’s pinged. They appeared out on their feet as Edworthy drove the ball back to Terry’s corner but this time the last play saw the ball knocked on at the lineout when a claim would surely have seen Cornish land the spoils, OP’s the victors in a titanic battle.
These two sides have never met before in league action and seem well matched on this showing. Priorians have started the season well and, alone amongst the sides promoted from Level 7 in this league have maintained that form to sit in 2nd place. With such short notice on the rearranged fixture we were unable to supply them with our normal pasty’s post match but they came back to serve notice that they this should be an enjoyable rivalry in the next season or two – we wish them well and hope their pitches recover in time for the return journey in the New Year.
Cornish will see elements of this match as a step up on previous form but also see obvious areas for improvement if they are to hit their season goal of a top 5 finish. The club continue to add new recruits, which is just as well as they are losing 1 player a week to a serious injury at present and the Christmas break will be welcome when it comes as the side continue to play an abrasive and exciting brand of rugby. Perhaps it’s time a few more came along to see…

Match details

Match date

Sat 05 Nov 2022

Kickoff

14:15

Competition

Regional 2 Thames

League position

2
Old Priorians
4
London Cornish
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

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