1st XV
Matches
Sat 16 Oct 2021  ·  London 1S
Cobham
53
17
London Cornish RFC
1st XV
Tries: J Lynch, J SladeConversions: D Phoenix (2)Penalties: D Phoenix
Covid Call an Alarming One at Cobham!

Covid Call an Alarming One at Cobham!

Dickon Moon18 Oct 2021 - 21:31
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Exiles receive unpleasant reminder of need for caution at Cobham.

During the pre match warm up for this London 1 South match at Cobham’s Fairmile Lane HQ, a piercing building alarm sounded that did not stop throughout the next few hours. It took some hours post match for its real significance to land for London Cornish, for one of the exiles starters on the day tested positive for Covid triggering an almighty logistical effort on Sunday that we hope will not have further significance over the next week or so.
Cornish continue to blood new players in these opening weeks, here throwing lock Will Harriss up from the Dukes via the 2s for his debut, while centre Kyle Hughes was also given a run out from the bench. There are little green shoots appearing in aspects of the exiles play but as has been opined in these notes since the season began, like testing the variants in a combination lock, there are plenty of permutations to run through before everything clicks into place!
The visitors played towards the car park in the opening stanza but were hampered by the extraordinary concession of 7 penalties in the opening 13 minutes for a variety of utterly avoidable reasons. One of these was kicked and following another, Cob rumbled over for a converted try. The home side lost their 6 to an injury on 17 minutes in an atritional match, but when Cornish did gain field position they simply could not win lineout ball as unfamiliar combinations struggled against the decent home jumpers. Scrum half George Jackson weaved around to try and create space behind a pack that had the nudge in the tight, but whilst Cobham missed a further kickable penalty on 24 minutes they were aided by their visitors losing a forward to the bin for taking out a jumper in the tair on 31. Two minutes later Cobham cantered over for another converted try but this cost Cornish more, for stand in Skipper Will Carew-Gibbs, who had already landed another of his trademark penalties for holding, succumbed to an injury later diagnosed as a badly broken hand, Ciaran Slater on in his place. One man not cowed by the carnage around him of late is no 8 Adam Wheeler and he set about single handedly finding a means of getting his side back in the game, winning a penalty for a high tackle on 35 minutes as he thundered on, the miscreant also consigned to the bin. The pen was only just inside the home half but Dan Phoenix struck the ball beautifully and it cleared the posts with something to spare, Cornish on the board now but 17-3 down. For the visitors to have any hope of reversing the trend in the 2nd period they would have had to keep it tight for the remaining minutes of the half, but not only did they not achieve this, they twice shipped converted tries as the defence parted like the sea of Galilee, the defensive structures of players, some of whom have never met let alone played together, not yet gelled. Turning round 31-3 down with their Skip on the way to hospital was not the way Cornish had foreseen the day panning out.
In the early part of the second period Cornish twice held Cobham up over the line from mauls, Joe Lynch, Jake Slade and Dave Theobald working hard in d. However, the risk of trying to play so much rugby close in came home to roost when the exiles conceded a penalty for holding on at point blank range, the penalty extending the lead to 34-3. This seemed to spark the visitors into life for there followed their most coherent passage of play in the game to date, Slade breaking away over halfway to set up camp in the Cobham 22. There was further cost though as wing Lee Humphreys suffered cut head and had to be strapped up to continue. Cobham conceded a series of penalties at this point for a variety of offences ranging from high tackles to taking supporting players out off the ball. A great passage of play saw Alothman, Wheeler and Robjohn combine before the latter saw his chip ahead cleared by Cob. Cornish had elected to tap and go rather than kick the points during this period and, having failed to score the maximums they were after, they were hit by a sucker punch on 64 minutes when 2 penalties saw them concede field position and the home lineout went to work to create room for one of their number to crash over for a converted try. This lit the touch paper for now the game opened up completely. On 70 minutes the irrepressible Wheeler broke through a gap on halfway and charged into the home 22, his inside ball collected by Lynch to reach out for his sides first try, improved by Phoenix. As Cornish went to repeat the dose, they lost a ball in the offload for the home side to work room to send their right wing over for an unconverted try. Another Cornish attack, another turnover, another try conceded, this one converted. Finally, with Cornish on top in the tight, Jackson and Wheeler scragged the home 9 and first one then another Cobham player was binned as they sought to close out the game. They were unable to halt the final act however, as Wheeler again burst through after a Hughes driving run and Slade was on hand to drive over for the try (pictured) with Theobalds support, Phoenix bringing the curtain down on the game at 53-17.
Like a few sides in these early weeks, Cobham relished their big win against Cornish supported as it was by a decent crowd of former players. Whatever the outcome of the season, these 2 clubs are likely opponents next season too and it will be interesting to see the relative directions of the 2 clubs in the intervening period. Decent hosts with a great set up at Fairmile Lane, Cob will continue to ask questions of all the teams in the league on their day.
Cornish sit and wait, praying that the one case of Covid does not result in an outbreak. The early signs are promising with negative test results so far but this was a timely reminder that we are not out of the woods quite yet and precautions still need to be taken. Now, what’s the number of that combination lock…..!

Match details

Match date

Sat 16 Oct 2021

Kickoff

15:00

Competition

London 1S

League position

9
Cobham
13
London Cornish
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

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