A fine 2nd half performance saw London Cornish wear down a resilient Effingham & Leatherhead to win their opening league fixture by virtue of scoring 2 goals, 2 tries and 3 penalties to 2 penalties. The win was achieved despite giving 8 players debuts as the new look exiles side quickly hit their straps at The Richardson Evans Memorial Playing Fields on Saturday.
On arrival at the ground, players and supporters of both clubs would have been happy to see the exiles home pitches are now the ones in front of the clubhouse, formerly used as training pitches by Harlequins. With weather defying all predictions, a warm, bright day and excellent surface invited open, flowing rugby. The Eagles had won both the renewals of this fixture last season, and came into the game on the back of an unbeaten pre season. In the opinion of a couple of their supporters pre match, this is their strongest squad for some seasons, so the portents were for a tough afternoon at the coalface for the home side, whose sole pre season win was the previous week at home to a strong Sevenoaks side. The exiles gave debuts to George Johnson at hooker, Ed Nimmons at lock, Chris Alder at 6, Andrew McEwen at 8, Dan Frost at 9, Ben Carew-Gibbs on one wing and Dave Madigan on the other, with Robin Heymann the backs replacement. Skipper Dave Theobald was also back in action at tight head, after completing his final year at university, and so was Conor O’Daly at 13, him returning from 9 months working in Switzerland. Despite weddings and one broken arm removing a few more players from selection, the home side also came into the game in decent fettle.
Cornish played towards the clubhouse in the opening period, a slight breeze in their faces. A strong start by the home side saw them work through around 10 phases before winning a penalty that flew narrowly side of the right hand upright. What quickly became apparent is that Effingham have hired a siege gun boot of a fly half, recognized by a few of the exiles entourage as having played at a decent level with Clontarf. An early pattern emerged as Cornish gained territorial advantage only for the visiting 10 to launch howitzers to clear his sides lines. All of these were well fielded by the exiles back 3 of Tom Hurley, Carew-Gibbs and Madigan, and they worked well with each other to ensure territory was not lost. However, despite this territorial advantage, the set pieces were even, and Effinghams defence held firm. It actually took the visitors over 10 minutes to gain possession in the home half, but when they did, they made it count. A half break wide left, and a Cornishman in at the side gave the visiting kicker the opportunity to demonstrate that he can launch them off the ground as well as from the hand, 0-3 to the Eagles. A quick response was required and it got one, McEwen driving upfield for quickly recycled ball to find the visiting backline offside, Rich McKeown leveling the scores with the penalty on 17 minutes. Now Effingham demonstrated that they do indeed have more weaponry than in previous seasons, a couple of clean line breaks only brought down by scrambling defence and the odd misplaced pass. They won a penalty for their efforts on 23 minutes but their kicker proved he is human by pulling it wide. However, they were hampered by the fact that their pack was beginning to creak in the tight, rarely providing real clean ball to a clearly inventive backline. Their 10 made a clean break on 27 minutes and may well have made it all the way to the line if he had backed himself, but his attempt to offload did not reach its intended recipient and the chance was soon lost. Fine defence around the fringes from the home back row of Simon Brading, Alder and McEwen kept the visitors at bay as they tried to muscle their way over. Finally, they lost a lineout 5 metres out for the ball to be worked to McKeown, who launched his own howitzer to deep inside the Eagles half. The failure to add to their score despite a period of territorial domination seemed to sap some of the belief from the visitors, who now conceded a penalty some way out to the left of the posts. McKeown disproved some unhelpful touchline banter from a visiting supporter to give his side the lead with just 2 minutes to the break, which came with no addition to the score, the home side 6-3 to the good.
Now with the slight breeze at their backs, Cornish slightly altered their tactics at the break, keeping the ball tighter and working the Eagles defence close in. With locks Pete Calvert and Nimmons beginning to pinch visiting lineout ball, the set pieces now became harder work for the visitors and their tackle count rose quickly. Bossed by the fine work of scrum half Frost, the exiles worked their way up the pitch until working space for O’Daly to loop round and break away inside the Eagles 22 on 46 minutes, driving over the line to plant the ball down over the whitewash wide right. Though the conversion was missed, the home side now had an 11-3 lead. An exchange of penalties on 49 and 52 minutes saw the lead remain at 8 but Cornish were visibly gaining the upper hand. Winning a penalty on 56 minutes just inside the Eagles 22, the Cornish inside centre Ian Keith tapped quickly and caught the visitors unawares, their scrambling defence desperately straining to reach him but too late, as he thumped the ball down over the line wide right. This time the conversion was good, McKeown striking the ball between the uprights and the lead was now out to 21-6. Within minutes the exiles made a change, Rob Aird on for Calvert at lock, no respite here for the visitors. Once again, Effingham demonstrated that they have dangerous runners, their left wing a real handful. On two more occasions they broke, quickly offloading passes but being hampered by knock ons and strong defence. They were made to pay for their profligacy, a scrum turned over inside their 22 for Brading to link with McEwen down the narrow side, the no 8 crashing across the whitewash to deservedly score wide left despite the attention of a couple of tacklers. This kick was not converted but Cornish now had a 26-6 lead with less than 20 minutes left, Will Carew-Gibbs on for Hamish Cuming in the front row, Johnson moving to prop, and Robin Heymann on for Frost, Madigan moving to 9. A shellshocked visiting side kicked off once more, and gained good field position inside the exiles 22 on 70 minutes. As they worked the ball left to right, a Cornish tackler was penalized for not releasing, the referee deciding he needed a rest to consider the error of his ways, effectively ending his match in the process. A minute later Eagles excellent wing fell awkwardly in a tackle, the match halted for 10 minutes as he was tended and an ambulance called. The match was relocated the adjoining pitch to allow room for the player to recover, which he happily did to take his place at the post match meal. Once more the visitors attacked, this time from deep, and their big forward seemed to be destined to score only to be brought down by a fine covering tackle from Heymann, McEwen then on hand to turn the ball over to allow the clearance. Finally on 77 minutes, the exiles worked the best move of the match off a lineout, McKeown sending O’Daly clear from the 15, him drawing the full back to send Keith in under the posts to guarantee Cornish their first ever league bonus point! McKeown added the extras to put a gloss on the score, 33-6 to the home side on the final whistle.
Effingham have clearly recruited well in the off season and will offer a far more creative game than in previous seasons. They will also be a real handful in low scoring games as their kicker has the capacity to slot them from some distance – this will not be the last time an oppo match report in this league mentions him. They will feel that the score does them little justice on the day but they really didn’t take their chances when they had them and their opponents did. They demonstrated a fine social side at The Telegraph following the match, and we wish them well in their season, the rematch not due until the very last day.
This was definitely a new look London Cornish side, brimming with inventive players and with more all round pace than for some years. It will be interesting to see how they develop over the forthcoming weeks, the division sure to test them in a variety of ways. We shall see….

LCRFC – Tom Hurley, Ben Carew-Gibbs, Conor O’Daly, Ian Keith, Dave Madigan, Rich McKeown, Dan Frost (Robin Heymann), Andrew McEwen, Simon Brading, Chris Alder, Ed Nimmons, Pete Calvert (Rob Aird), Dave Theobald (Capt.), George Johnson, Hamish Cuming (Will Carew-Gibbs).