Reality Bites as Cornish Give Best to Cob!

London Cornish were given a harsh reality check by perennial opponents Cobham at the REMPF in Regional 2 Thames on Saturday outscored by 6 tries to 2, though the exiles will rue leaving plenty of points out on the pitch in the opening half before barely laying attacking hands on the ball in a one sided 2nd period. The result sees Cornish settle into 7th place in the league, though only 3 points off the previous position of 3rd.
On a warm, dry day on the 1s pitch at the REMPF, Cornish opened up playing away from the clubhouse with a slight cross breeze at their backs but disaster struck in the opening play of the match for the exiles when scrum half Rich Stephens was injured as he brought the ball out of the 22, the damage subsequently diagnosed as a broken foot. Cornish were at least fortunate to have selected another 9 on the bench, and replacement George Jackson would go on to be the home sides best player on the day. The injury seemed to unsettle the home side for a period, and they lost their only scrum against the head all day on 5 minutes, which saw Cobham work the ball across their back line and inside again for a converted try under the posts. The momentum was with the visitors in these opening minutes, despite losing a man to the bin for a little shenanigans at a maul on 9 minutes. The visiting 8 was held up over the line on 14 and when they returned the drop out with interest on 15 minutes, they found the waiting jackal Will Carew-Gibbs on hand to win a penalty on the floor. 2 minutes later the scores were level as a scrambled Cob clearance landed in the waiting arms of Matt Hakes, who countered and broke into the 22 before the ball was worked to Jackson to weave his past 2 defenders and dive over for a try half way in from the left flank, George Kimmins levelling things up with the conversion. 5 minutes later the visitors retook the lead when they countered from deep and broke through a weak tackle down the narrow side, good support lines seeing them in under the posts for another max. Kimmins and Hakes lead the response with barrelling runs taking play into the Cob half, where a penalty was converted by the former to reduce the arrears to 4. Now the momentum was firmly with the exiles and, after WCG again won a penalty on the floor and Mike Edworthy broke to 5 out, they worked the ball across the line in front of the posts to fashion a 2 on 1 only for the ball to be spilt over the line when the last man took his eye off it in the throws of glory! 3 minutes later Cornish narrowly missed a very kickable penalty from in front, though from distance. The final act of note in the half again saw the gods frown upon the exiles, Hakes latching onto a spilt ball in his own half, twice fly hacking on beyond the last defender, then seeing the ball bounce obliquely away from his grasp with the line at his mercy. Cobham killed the ball to concede the pen but the exiles knocked on 5 out, the moment lost. Cornish turned round 14-10 down when, with a little more good fortune and patient execution, they could have been 27-14 up.
Though foiled early on in the 2nd half by another WCG steal 5 out after a strong Tony Pellow tackle brought a charging runner to the ground, it did not take long for the visitors to make amends, managing to send their right wing away through some porous d on 46, the try converted. Cornish needed to respond and it was their pack on the day who provided the inspiration, a scrum penalty won, David Chalkley claiming a lineout to launch a maul on 53 minutes, and Ed Fink claiming the next after Cob were pinged for bringing it down. After Nick Goss took the ball over the gain line, it was worked to Edworthy who used the decoy run of Dan Phoenix to sashay his way over the under the posts (pictured), Kimmins again reducing the arrears to 4. The remaining 25 minutes of the match saw the Cornish lineout and midfield defence unable to execute, which meant much the action had the exiles chasing after the ball, conceding penalties as they sought to win the ball back, then lose lineouts when they did pinch it. The visitors missed a long range penalty on 55 minutes but added to their score on 62 when their left wing was the beneficiary of more porous defence to notch the 7. Now with utter confidence in their handling and targeting the exiles unusually pliant d, Cobham threw the ball wide at will, a tactic that saw them break through two more times on 69 and 75 minutes for converted tried. A game that had seemed in the balance to the final quarter had suddenly been taken clean away from the exiles with 21 points conceded in a 13 minute spell. Despite the best efforts of the likes of the combative Charlie Bolton, Jackson, Carew-Gibbs and a frustrated Mark Osei-Tutu, Cornish finished the match well beaten.
Cobham are clearly ambitious having made the late switch to this league from its South-Eastern equivalent. Their league position is clearly a false one though, a little like Cornish, it all depends upon which of their players they can call upon on the day as most of the teams in this league seem able to field competitive sides some weekends, and the top few at the end of the season will be those who can do this regularly. Always great value post match, Cobham enjoyed their post match pasties and we look forward to the return just before Christmas.
On reflection, this match didn’t emulate the struggles of last season as on this day Cornish actually fashioned enough opportunities to at least have landed the try bonus point and maybe more. Though the 1s and 2s both picked up injuries at the weekend, there are enough new players joining (and a few older ones about to return!) for the club to remain confident that they are on an upward curve, the 2s great MMT Prem away win at Old Streets 2s giving everyone a lift post match. A Friday night fixture next up and a chance to make amends!