London Cornish maintained their lead, and their 100% record, at the top of London 2 South-West when they once again produced late points away from home to snatch the 5 points from the grasp of an inspired Portsmouth on Saturday in a hum-dinger of a match on the south coast. Cornish will reflect that they could have made the game more comfortable if they had landed more than 2 of the 9 kicks they had on the day, but 7 tries on the road is no mean feat and especially against a full strength opponent who are notoriously tough to topple when on their game.
The home side had thumped a strong London 2 South-East Dartfordians outfit in the Cup the previous week, and buoyed by this performance were able to field an unchanged XV for the visit of the league leaders. Lock Harry Somers was stung by a wasp in the opening play, as if to indicate to the visitors that they were in for an uncomfortable afternoon. He and the rest of the side seemed as though their minds were still on the train journey down, 2 tries conceded to the home side to see the score at 12-0 with 14 gone. Prop Oli Low responded on 18, reaching out to plant the ball down (see pictures) to the left of the posts for George Kimmins to convert following a series of driving runs from James La Broy, Skip Craig Chatley and Tim Homan. Literally now stung into action, 5 minutes later openside Tom Ievers levelled things up following a rumbustious, driving run from wing Tom Jeffery. A Kimmins penalty put his side ahead of 25, but this too was levelled up as the home side landed one of their own on the half hour. Scrum half Ed Atkin sniped his way over on 36 to give Cornish the lead at 15-20, but 2 scores either side of half-time saw Portsmouth drive their way out to a 29-20 lead. Cornish responded, having brought on Dave Theobald, Dan Leo and Rich Stephens at 3, 6 and 9 at the break. Dave Smith picked up a loose ball on his own 22 to canter away down the right flank on 50, and within 90 seconds Stephens added another unconverted try to make the score 29-30 to the visitors with just over a quarter of the match left. By now the Cornish pack had began to dominate their equally lumpy counterparts from the south coast in the tight, and it was against the run of play when the hosts landed a beautifully struck drop goal with about 18 left. For the remainder of the match, and much as they had done against Reigatians a few weeks ago, Cornish penned their hosts into their 22, forcing a succession of penalties each kicked to the corner or resulting in attacking scrums. Finally, with the referee playing another advantage, Mark Osei-Tutu crashed over from the base of an advancing scrum, and with time virtually up Stephens added the coup de grace with an angled run to step away from the cover and deprive Portsmouth of the additional losing bonus point.
There is no doubt that if Portsmouth could field this side every weekend they would not be in the predicament that they are in just now, but it is very early in the season and they will find easier nuts to crack than Cornish. Their very large pack are supported by some great runners in the backline, and if they can stay injury free, wins will surely follow. Cornish have based their game on their pack in recent seasons, but this win demonstrates that they have far more of an all court game than they have done in the past. The leagues top scorers will need more of the same if they are to continue their winning run, and there is still plenty of improvement to be found in this squad yet.