London Cornish finally overcame a combative and confident Twickenham side after something of an arm wrestle at the Richardson Evans Memorial Playing Fields on Saturday. This was all the more meritorious given that the side could not call on the service of the previous weeks 2, 8, 10, 12, 13, and 15 all absent attending a wedding. The win was landed by virtue of a goal, a try and a penalty to a goal and penalty as the home side endured a scoreless opening half.
The two sides came into the game having won both their opening two fixtures, and the exiles called up Rob Aird at 8, 2s Skipper John Barker at 10, recalled Dan Frost out of position at 12, moved Nick Harlock to 13, recalled Iain Short at 14 and gave a league debut to Laurie Bridgett at 15. There was also a recall in the front row for Hamish Cuming, and a debut in the row for former Chichester lock Phil Ridsdale, happily recovered from a bizarre corporate skateboarding injury! This multitude of enforced changes was bound to disrupt the fluency of the home side, but it was still going to take a decent side to test them out and in Twickenham, the home side got just that.
The game began in bright sunshine with a stiff breeze blowing in the faces of the exiles, their visitors quickly on the attack and scrambling defence required early on to prevent them entering the home 22. Twickenham chose to use their forwards in close quarter action in this early period, but this played into the hands of the sizeable Cornish pack, open side Simon Brading to the fore in much of the good work in the trenches. After weathering an initial Twickenham surge, the home side began to dominate territory for a period and following a break by Brading supported by lock Ed Nimmons, won a penalty almost in front of the posts on the 22. Unfortunately, the penalty attempt was shanked wide, a constant theme for the exiles on this particular day. This profligacy was brought into sharper focus a mere 3 minutes later when the visiting kicker sized up a monster penalty from some yards inside his own half. He launched a scud missile of an effort, travelling low for most of its trajectory but crucially between the posts to give his side a 3-0 lead. With their back row stifling the efforts of the home side at source, Twickenham were able to slow down the exiles ball, helped by a slow start by the home pack who too often did not run from enough depth to make the gainline. Their 6 was a particular nuisance and elicited some commentary from the home support, the best of which saw the referee spot a dog poo on the pitch to which the comment came “Their no 6 done that ref!" Barker sent some probing kicks in behind the home back line but the Middlesex side returned these with interest, much of the game played out in the middle sections of the pitch. On 28 minutes Cornish went through a series of phases and worked some room down the left flank, a 3 on 2 overlap seemingly a great chance to score, but the option of a miss pass was taken rather than hands and the ball flew straight into touch rather than giving the waiting Ben Carew-Gibbs the chance to demonstrate his fine finishing skills. Around the half hour mark both kickers missed kickable penalties, but Cornish had begun to edge the battle in the tight, and twice in quick succession hooker George Johnson took strikes against the head. With Aird driving over the gainline and Cuming hitting some decent lines, a key period of the game saw the home side attack the top right hand corner of the pitch. First a rolling maul was repelled, then a scrum V the same, all hands on the pumps for the visitors. Finally, Twickenham won a penalty for holding, the ball kicked sideways into touch as the whistle went for the break, them 3-0 to the good.
Whilst an understandable lack of fluency dogged the league leaders, the half time talk was of a need for patience and to recall the game plan that has served the side so well to date. With the breeze now at their backs, Cornish began the second period at pace, Cuming again carrying well and scrum half Dave Madigan a much more visible presence. As they worked a rolling maul infield deep inside the visiting half, the referee spotted a stray fist and awarded another penalty to the exiles, but once again this was scooped wide. Cornish now made a change, Alex Crimmens making his first appearance of the season on in place of Aird at 8. The visitors kicker tried to repeat his opening half feat on 49 minutes, his kick from inside his own half this time falling short and wide. The critical moment of the game came a mere 4 minutes later. Twickenham worked an overlap wide left on half way but rather than put it through the hands, their back chose to chip ahead. To his horror he saw the ball fly straight into the arms of the gambling Barker, who had anticipated the option. The fly half needed no second invitation, and sprinted between the onrushing defence and away from the despairing cover to score half way in to the posts on the right side, him converting his own score to turn the game on its head. The score galvanized the home side, finally upping the tempo with a series of excellent offloading, interchanging breaks, Harlock a constant threat finding room where there seemed none. On 53 minutes Cornish won a scrum inside the home 22, recycling the ball through Brading who crashed across the gainline before offloading to Crimmens, who shrugged through two tackles to plunge across the whitewash and over the line for score, again half way in to the posts. This time the conversion went wide, but the damage had been done and the exiles were out to a 12-3 lead. On came Mike Allewell for Chris Alder at 6, and within 5 minutes the league leaders again won a penalty when the Twickenham 7 found himself offside. Up stepped Barker to divide the posts and give his side a 12 point lead. Madigan found room for a break a few minutes later, bursting around the cloying back row and through the defensive line only for his overhead pass to find an foe rather than friend. A final change saw Justin York come on for Short on the wing, and he was quickly in the action as the visiting side threw caution to the wind to try and break the shackles that had prevented them getting close to the exiles line thus far. They were held at bay until 3 minutes from the end, when two exiles players thought the other was making a tackle allowing the Twickenham left wing a free run in to dive over to the left of the posts, the conversion well made to reduce the deficit to 5. There was still time for one of the visiting forwards to burst into Cornish territory, where he was brought down by a fine double tackle from a combination of Bridgett and Carew-Gibbs, the visitors in particular with bodies strewn all over the place as their efforts to rescue their unbeaten record exhausted them. The final whistle went to roars from the Cornish support, them knowing that their side had won without having played particularly well.
Twickenham are an astutely coached side and will pose plenty more problems for sides this year than they did last season. Their team gave it everything on the day and they played with a smile on their faces, reflected too in their grace back at a packed Telegraph Inn. We will watch their progress with interest.
Cornish have made their best start ever at this level but this was a warning that they need their best players available on a regular basis to maintain the run. A win is a win however, and with all 4 of the clubs sides winning on the day for the first time for over a year, this was a great day at the office for the exiles!
LCRFC – Laurie Bridgett, Iain Short (Justin York), Nick Harlock, Dan Frost, John Barker, Dave Madigan, Rob Aird (Alex Crimmens), Simon Brading, Chris Alder (Mike Allewell), Phil Ridsdale, Ed Nimmons, Dave Theobald, George Johnson, Hamish Cuming.