A decent first half performance underpinned an ultimately comfortable passage into the last 16 of the Intermediate Cup as London Cornish overcame Hammersmith & Fulham in a local derby at Hurlingham Park on Saturday. With so many matches in the locality postponed and Cornish with challenges on 2 fronts, they will have been delighted to have chalked up the win and kept the free week on February 4th.
Cornish rested a few players for this match, having dominated a pre season game between the 2 at the same venue, and with the recent form of the 2 opponents in sharp contrast with the hosts having lost their last 7 league matches in London 2 North-West and the exiles reaching this point unbeaten in their season. Oli Low was given a start at loosehead in the absence of Mark O’Leary, Nick Goss replaced the rested Dan Leo at 6, Tim Homan took on the no 8 mantle with Mark Osei-Tutu possible out for the season, Phil Dale continued in place of Rich Stephens at 9, and out wide Miles Rushworth continued on the wing with Tom Jeffery out for at least a further month.
After a brief hiatus and delayed kick off owing to the game being moved to an adjoining pitch, the two teams exchanged penalties in the opening 10 minutes before Nick Goss took a fine line off a pop pass to canter through near the posts on 16, fly half George Kimmins adding the conversion to his earlier penalty. In a planned move, Cornish now withdrew Low for the returning Tom Lloyd up front. The early play was frenetic as both sides threw the ball about, seemingly exercising little control and Cornish nearly increased their lead on 22 minutes when Matt Hakes broke through only to lose the ball in the act of scoring after it was dislodged by a desperate last ditch tackle. 5 minutes later the omens for Hammers looked bad as Tom Ievers sprinted away for another try converted by Kimmins. Those fears were compounded in the very next attack when the in form fly half cantered through to score by the posts, making the conversion of his own try a formality. To add insult, he added a further penalty to give his side a 27-3 lead. Cornish lost lock James La Broy to a nasty looking cut at this point, but had Steve Wood on the bench to replace him. Hammers finally showed up as an attacking force in the closing minutes of the half, buoyed by support from some of their other teams whose matches had been postponed at the 11th hour. However, even when Cornish lost a man to the bin with 3 minutes remaining in the half and then lost Tom Ievers to a knock in the same passage of play bringing on Joe Donnelly to allow Hakes to return to his favoured back row position, the home side couldn’t force their scrum or maul over the line and eventually they were pinged and the half ended.
The London 2 South-West league leaders have occasionally had passages of play when they have gone missing this season, having enough quality to conjur up some quality when it is needed most to see off their opposition. They had enough in the bank to withstand a decent fight back by Hammers, and credit where it is due, they needed it too. Hammers returned a poor kick and kick chase with interest to score a converted try on 44 minutes, and 5 minutes later broke through again for an unconverted try wide left. Cornish did not look after the ball particularly well during this period, but a Rushworth burst, supported by David Smith and Homan saw a penalty awarded, which Kimmins converted on 51 to keep the home side at arms length. The visitors now awoke from their slumber, Dale popping passes to Harry Somers, Jake Slade and Homan to drive their side upfield. However, with Cornish just 5 metres out and on the attack, a ball was spilt into the arms of a grateful Hammers back down the blind side, who just had enough in the tank to run the length of the pitch and make it across the line as he was closed down by the rapid Smith, the try unconverted but the home side back to a 10 point deficit. Cornish brought off Skip Craig Chatley and tighthead Dave Theobald for the remaining minutes, Paddy Dean on in the back line and Oli Low returning up front. They were both involved on 73 minutes, as Cornish attacked right to left deep inside the Hammers 22, the ball worked to Smith coming into the line on the angle to cross the whitewash and add gloss to the score, Kimmins taking his haul to 22 points on the day with the conversion. There was little action of note in the closing minutes, the visitors having won the day.
Hammersmith will hopefully take some positives from their 2nd half performance on the day, and will need to as they in a relegation battle in their division. It was only a couple of seasons ago that they were in London 1, and they are set up off the pitch in a similar vein to Cornish, being a pub based club who don’t own their facility. They regularly field 5 sides and have managed 6 on a couple of occasions this season, so must be doing something right! We wish them well and it was good to be playing them again in what is referred to by our Vets as THE local derby.
This was a first foray into the competition for Cornish this season, having been given a bye in the 1st round and a walkover in the 2nd. It is sometimes tough for players to get a feel for a competition when this happens, so the exiles will be pleased to have put this one behind them and look forward to the draw during the week, the regional semi-final due to be played on Feb 25th.