Cornish Caught Cold in Medway Canter!

The issue of rugby club sustainability is one that challenges rugby administrators the world over, notwithstanding the uptick in player participation it must be hoped that follows on in England from a successful RWC campaign. Some clubs are town sides, some have school links, and others choose to shell out cash to provide the necessary staying power to compete. Then there are the exiles sides, of whom there are very few, sustained on an ability to recruit and retain players from afar, but for whom it is particularly tough to build the junior model as the source of the player base tends not to remain in the location once kids are added to the equation. London 1 South is a rich microcosm of those variants, with clubs from every background. So, here was a perfect vehicle to measure the difference – Medway, a town side with a deep and successful colts set up, visiting London Cornish, recruiting like mad to keep pace, and both sides struggling with significant injury lists. In the exiles case, 43 players were unavailable on the day, which meant a significantly underpowered squad, while Medway called upon some tremendous young talent to bolster their talented squad, steeped in the clubs patterns and boy, did the difference show!
Despite steady and progressively heavier rain falling before and during the match, the pitch at the REMPF was in fantastic condition, and the home side played away from the clubhouse in the opening half. From the off, Cornish were under the pump, conceding a rare converted pushover try on 7 minutes. The response was immediate, a rolling maul pulled down for Dan Phoenix to get his side on the scoreboard, though few would have guessed these would be the only points his side would garner on the day. On 14 minutes only a fine cover tackle by Freddie Cruz prevented the Medway 7 from sliding in wide left, but the respite didn’t last long, the home side under their posts watching the conversion flying over on 17 minutes, the alarm bells beginning to sound. In situations like these, the ball doesn’t bounce for you, and only the referee missed a glaring knock on in the build up to next try on 23 minutes, this one also improved. When the nippy Medway right wing left Cornish players clutching thin air on 28 minutes, the visitors had the bonus point in the bag already, and now it was just a case of how many. As conditions deteriorated, so the playing field was levelled, and in the remaining minutes of the half the closest either side got to scoring was via a powerful break from the returning exiles no 8 Mark Osei-Tutu, his offload in the shadows of the posts knocked on, the whistle sounding for the break and the visitors 26-3 to the good.
Cornish began the 2nd period well, James La Broy one of few exiles to do himself justice, producing a great run, and debutant fly half Keegan Neal pinning Medway back with a decent grubber. This precipitated a furious assault on the Medway d, back rows Sam Matanle and Jasper Mowatt both twice involved, veteran lock Pete Calvert bashing a hole, before La Broy drove on and Osei-Tutu was squeezed into touch by the corner flag. It took the visitors 14 minutes to add to their lead, a chip in behind fielded by the Medway left wing to dive over wide left for an unconverted try. On the hour mark, Cornish fashioned room wide left for an overlap following a trademark barrelling Jake Slade run, but the final pass hit the dirt and the ball flew into touch. On 62 and 68 minutes Medway scored 2 further tries out wide, very poor tackling on both occasions shepherding the Kent teams backs over the whitewash, one try converted. Cornish finished the game strongly, and even thought they had scored when Neal pinged an angled kick from on halfway to be gathered by the galloping Slade out wide, who fended off a would be tackler to slide over wide left, only to be called back by the referee, who felt the exiles front row was in front of the kicker. Thus was completed a miserable afternoon for LCRFC, downed by 43-3 at home.
Medway are in the hunt again, and it remains to be seen how keen they really are to progress for they have been here before, and seemingly blinked. It may be that they can kick on, given the riches at their disposal in their junior ranks, and there will certainly be some interesting selection decisions to be made when the more experienced lads return to action. As ever, they fronted up post match, and we look forward to providing more meaningful opposition on the return, by which time their hat-trick scoring young wing may have finished his pint!!
8 battles down, and seemingly retreating, the break could not have arrived at a better time for the exiles, bloodied but unbowed, regrouping under cover in some dark fields in the south-west. The benefit of the continuous recruitment model is that its for the here and now, and the tales of battles won help sustain the future. There are warriors returning and new ones arriving now, and every week in the run up to Christmas – kick start the Cornish rebellion lads, the time is nigh!