London Cornish eventually wore down a resilient KCS Old Boys to win by 41-6 on a very heavy REMPF in London 2 South-West on Saturday, the home side landing the spoils by 4 goals, 2 tries and a penalty to 2 penalties. With an extraordinary season in this division continuing to surprise with 3 of the top 4 sides losing on the day, the result sees the exiles close in on a first ever top 4 finish at this level, though remaining in 6th place at present.

The visitors have had a tough season to date, and came into the game deep in the relegation mire. They can actually field a side the match of any in the league, but since so many of those key players are smart enough to be Oxbridge students, they only get to use them in the holiday periods. Though a local derby, the 2 clubs have a strong friendship off the pitch and a mutual respect on it, and KCS have never made it easy for their nearest neighbours in the league, so there was no way the exiles were going to take this game lightly despite the visitors recent series of poor results. A full side was selected, Mark Osei-Tutu returning at 6 and Tom Burns retaining his shirt on the wing to allow Tom Dorse to move to full back and Nick Harlock to outside centre, Graeme Smeaton switching in to 12 in the absence of the injured Ian Keith. With all 3 scrum half options away for a variety of reasons, the Choughs Skipper Ali Lindsay was called up for a rare 1s start. The pitch at the REMPF was barely playable, the rain only relenting an hour before kick off and the referee happy to kick off as long as the heavy rain stayed away.

Cornish played towards the clubhouse in the opening period into the face of a slight breeze, and were on the board inside 5 minutes when the Surrey side was pinged for not rolling away in front of the posts, fly half Rich McKeown slotting the kick. Though the home side were able to use their rolling maul to good effect, too often slow ball and ponderous decision making hampered their efforts, Harlock frequently at the centre of what good work the exiles did manage early on as he, Burns and Robin Heymann fielded a series of kicks hoiked to them on the freshening breeze. On 15 minutes a miss-pass on half way by Cornish was picked off by a KCS back, who cleared away and seemed certain to score only to be hauled down by the covering McKeown, the ball knocked on in the tackle. With their 12 making good yardage and Cornish spilling plenty of ball, KCS grew in confidence. On 20 minutes KCS suffered a real blow when one of their forwards suffered a very bad injury to his lower leg at a maul in the home 22. The game was halted for a period while an ambulance was called, the player being carefully ferried to the sidelines under the watchful gaze of the opposing physios, and we hope to hear that his injury is not as bad as first feared. His side leveled the scores on 23 minutes when Cornish were pinged for a lazy runner in front of their posts, the KCS kicker dividing the uprights. The next 10 minutes saw both sides really struggle with the conditions, the smallest crowd of the season probably questioning their sanity in attending! Finally, on 34 minutes and with their first decent series of phases in the match Cornish scored. Lindsay worked the blindside on half way to hit lock Ed Nimmons arriving at pace. He drove infield and onto the 22, Skipper Dave Theobald flicking the ball up to no 8 Andrew McEwen arriving at pace on the angle. He crashed through the first tackle and fended off another before crashing onto the line half way in to the right of the posts, the referee on hand to award the score. McKeown added the extras but the 7 point lead did not last long, KCS reducing the arrears to 4 with a penalty on 36. Gradually though, Cornish were finding their stride and on 38 minutes Dorse hit a great line down the left flank to hare into the KCS 22, only to find he had no support as he was tackled, the visitors again scrambling well to clear the ball. A minute later Lindsay emerged from a ruck with a huge cut on his face, his game ended after brief consultation with physio and Doctor. The reshuffle forced Smeaton in to an emergency 9 with Simon Brading on at 12, the position in which he won his England U21 caps some years ago. The whistle went for the break a few minutes later, the home side noting how the pitch was gradually drying out.

KCS were quicker out of the blocks in the second period, their 12 again to the fore as they won a penalty for not rolling away in a very kickable central position. This time their kicker pushed the kick across the posts and within two minutes he was standing under his own posts as a well worked set lineout saw McEwen sent clean through from the 22 to score to the left of the posts, this conversion attempt sliding wide but the lead now 15-6. With locks Pete Calvert and Nimmons beginning to pinch the visitors lineout ball, and hooker George Johnson nailing his men at their lineout time, the exiles were beginning to secure an increasing stream of good quality ball. On 52 minutes Brading demonstrated that he has a real turn of pace, breaking through and into the 22 only for the ball to squirt forward as he went to offload. Another KCS injury on 53 saw another replacement on, but he was under his posts within 2 minutes, Smeaton showing a scrummies instinct to snipe over from a close range ruck, McKeown making it a max with the extras. Now the flood gates began to open, for on 58 minutes Smeaton went blind and hit Harlock arriving at pace on the angle, his pace taking him clean away to score under the posts for the bonus point score, McKeown again kicking the extras to extend the lead to 29-6. Cornish replaced Theobald with the returning Hamish Cuming, switching Mike Bond to tighthead, Cuming nearly scoring with his first touch as he rampaged to within a whisker of the line before being hauled down, the ball hooked clear after a knock on. Laurie Bridgett also joined the fray now in place of Heymann, whose time will come again when the ground firms up. On 71 Brading gained due reward for his seasons endeavours when he crashed across the line after a series of phases, Bond and Wapshott linking well with Smeaton to make the hard yards. Though this conversion went wide, Cornish were now utterly dominant and the question was how many more tries they could run in. The answer was one, McEwen completing his hat trick on 77 when he burst away to score under the posts for another converted try. The well refereed match finished shortly afterward, a relieved exiles side happy to have found their stride in the second half.

Though not creating much in the way of attacking purpose in this last 30 minutes, KCS tackled to man and at no stage gave it up, but they are severely underpowered in their current guise and will need some bulk to trouble the scorers in the remaining games. Don’t bet against that happening if some of their uni boys return. 4 rounds of matches remain for Cornish to achieve their highest ever placing, and they will need to buck their recent wlwlw form to secure this. Some dry weather would be good too, your correspondent worryingly close to trenchfoot as spring approaches!

LCRFC – Tom Dorse, Tom Burns, Nick Harlock, Graeme Smeaton, Robin Heymann (Laurie Bridgett), Rich McKeown, Ali Lindsay (Simon Brading), Andy McEwen, Charlie Wapshott, Mark Osei-Tutu, Ed Nimmons, Pete Calvert, Dave Theobald (Hamish Cuming), George Johnson, Mike Bond.