Cornish Response Too Late as Park Head Home With 5!

Belsize Park withstood a rigorous examination of their defensive capabilities in the last quarter of this London 1 South encounter at the REMPF on Saturday, to ultimately win with a bonus point. Their hosts simply took too long to find their stride and managed to get on the wrong side of the referee in a match riddled with penalties.
On a still, dry day after a week of rainfall, the pitch at the REMPF was something of a sticky dog, Cornish playing away from the clubhouse in the opening half and sporting their change strip of gold with narrow black bands. Conceding a penalty at the first lineout, the exiles sacked the resultant maul, but then were too slow to re-align, a lumpy BP front row rumbling over for an unconverted try, barely 2 minutes on the clock. Worse was to follow, for 5 minutes later, Cornish were pinged twice to gift field position to the visitors in front of the posts, and again a sleepy d was caught out by a short pop, a tackle missed and another unconverted try register. Gradually, driven by the impressive carrying of no 8 Mark Osei-Tutu, Cornish found a foothold in the match. On 19 minutes, and following a rolling maul from a Dave Chalkley lineout catch, Miles Lloyd sent a mispass into the waiting arms of Matt Hakes. Hakes demonstrated just what he can do given space, skinning his opposite man on the outside on the 22 and then evading a last ditch covering tackle to dive over wide left. Dan Phoenix added the touchline conversion with the help of the crossbar, and from nowhere the home side were now only 3 points down. With a brief period of momentum, it was centre Sam Vaughan who made the next incision, but frustratingly his hard work was undone by a knock on in midfield. On the half-hour mark, Cornish conceded another penalty for offside in midfield, and this was kicked to 5 out down the left flank. When the exiles again repelled an attempt at a maul, hooker Jake Slade was injured and replaced by Mark O’Leary, Tony Pellow moving to the 2 slot. BP have a tactic of repeatedly trying to create a narrow side to send their front row into bullocking runs on short pops, then rewinding open to their 6 and 8 to carry. This tactic seemed to have been repelled by the exiles until a couple of quick-fire tap penalties caught the home side short in midfield for the hard running visiting 13 to plunge across the line for a converted try. There was time left in the half for Osei-Tutu to again demonstrate he is running into form, as Cornish began to edge the battle in the tight, but a penalty conceded for holding on in the Park 22 saw the action end on the first period.
At the opening scrum of the 2nd half awarded to Park, the visitors were pinged as they retreated. The kick was from some distance out, but the unerring boot of Phoenix cleared the posts with something to spare, the score now 10-17 with 42 on the clock. Crucially, a missed tackle on 45 saw Park break the first line d, and when the ball was recycled Cornish lost a man to the bin for a high tackle. BP worked the ball from the penalty wide right, but when the ball was lost forward and over the dead ball line, the referee curiously awarded a scrum to the visitors. This time they worked their plan open then blind, but an exile front row missed the tackle on his opposite number, who was able to barrel across the line for his sides bonus point try, this one also unconverted. This try seemed to spark a flurry of further penalties conceded by the home team as they completely and unusually lost the referee. It took an Osei-Tutu lineout steal and an Adam Wheeler turnover on the floor to prevent further damage to the scoreboard. Cornish brought on Andy Munro-Lott at 9, Lloyd moving to the wing in place of the underused Eji Erhirhie. There was also a return for Cameron Crozier in the back row, Kyle Coulter making way with James La Broy moving into the row. With the carrying of O’Leary, Skipper Ed Carne and Hakes an increasing influence, it was now the turn of Belsize Park to fall foul of the arbiter, pinged on the hour mark for offside after a counter by Hakes and Lloyd. Gradually, the visitors were forced to defend deeper and deeper, and their tiring players did well not to be pinged for not rolling away. Twice on 64 and 66 minutes Cornish fashioned multi-phase attacks, now winning the battle on the gainline. The effect was beginning to tell on a tiring Park, for whom the 6 and 8 had immense games. Finally, on 72 minutes, Lloyd changed tack, angling a clever kick in behind the onrushing Belsize d. Phoenix was onto it in a flash, dashing between 2 defenders to gather the ball and dive over for a try wide right (pictured), though he was unable to improve it. From the restart, another huge Osei-Tutu run was supported by Crozier, and when AML recycled the ball just outside the 22, Park were caught offside, Phoenix bringing his side to within 4 points at 18-22, the momentum all with Cornish. To huge frustration for the home side, they were pinged for an offence shortly after the restart right in front of the posts, gifting 3 of their hard earned points back to the visitors, 2 minutes now left on the clock. Pinching the ball against the head at the final scrum, Cornish had one final chance, Funston working some magic to give his side field position. However, in an attempt to repeat the earlier kick in behind, the exiles gave possession back to the waiting Belsize Park cover, and they played out the remaining seconds of the match to land the win.
Belsize Park have probably surprised a few sides with their results this season, but Cornish have played against them at all levels so knew what was coming. They work incredibly hard for each other, trust their gameplan and their defensive alignment, and will take some knocking over. The post match festivities included some splendid old school singing, as the older members of both clubs had been waiting for this fixture for some decades! Look forward to the return!
It may be that a few of the Cornish lads had been carrying the effects of Friday night Christmas parties given the unusual number of tackles missed in the early part of the game. The concession of those 2 early tries and the concession of so many penalties hampering any comeback ultimately cost the exiles the game, so it is to be hoped lessons are learned for the remaining 2 pre Chrimbo matches, this feeling more like 3 points lost than 1 gained.