The law is an ass when it serves no man. So it proved on Saturday at Twickenham’s Parkfield HQ, as London Cornish found themselves down two injured front row on 44 minutes, and reduced to 14 men for the rest of the match as a result, since the law states that in such a case a side cannot replace the second injured player. The exiles did have another player on the bench who had hooked in his university days, but the referee was not comfortable that he had enough experience to be an adequate replacement and so the visitors were reduced to 14 and the game went uncontested for its remaining period. If the law is meant to prevent cheating at a higher level, its application at the amateur levels is a complete nonsense since, with only 3 players on the bench and no requirement for a side to name any more than 1 front row replacement, it leaves a side such as Cornish with genuine injuries no place to go, especially if a referee can still arbitrate over whether a replacement has enough experience or not. Suffice to say, Cornish have taken this up with the RFU and will continue to press their case as this was not a satisfactory outcome to this match for either side. Earlier in the season in another league match, Cornish had lost a front row to injury and then his replacement was sin binned meaning uncontested scrums for 10 minutes, but the referee on this occasion corrwctly deemed that Cornish should not have another player binned as well to reduce them to 13, which must mean that if you wanted to deliberately get your second front row binned to force uncontested scrums, you are not penalized, but if you genuinely lose two front row injured then you are – where is the logic in that?!

To the match itself – Cornish went into it with a few players still on hols, Skipper Dave Theobald, scrum half Dave Madigan and fellow back Conor O’Daly amongst them. A strong squad was still assembled to blow away the cobwebs of the Festive period and the recent inclement weather had relented enough for the home sides pitch to be in decent condition. In this tight division, Twickenham have not been easily put away by any side, and though never having lost to them, Cornish knew this would be another tight affair, the home side normally at their strongest around the holiday periods. The exiles played up the slope and into a very strong breeze in the opening half, a small crowd having gathered in a sharp, biting wind in clear conditions.

Though Twickenham opened the stronger, they were given an almighty shooing at the first scrum to give Cornish some early territory, but as T’s cleared the ball downfield the prostrate figure of loosehead Hamish Cuming was left behind, him having suffered a back spasm and immediately requiring replacing, George Johnson on in his stead. Using the strong wind in their favour to sensibly gain field position, T’s attacked repeatedly just inside the Cornish half, but were consistently repelled out wide by fine tackling from centres Ian Keith and Graeme Smeaton. On 7 minutes after hammering on the door for a few phases and finding plenty home, the home side won a penalty for not rolling away some way out in a central position. Their 10 produced the first of a series of siege gun drives to see the ball between the posts and his side on the board. 3 minutes later he had doubled this with another long range effort, this time for not releasing the tackled player. Gradually Cornish worked their way into the game, driven on by fine surges from no 8 Andrew McEwen. On 20 minutes superb series of phases saw scrum half Tom Jacob link with tight head James Turnbull, McEwen and left wing Robin Heymann to drive onto the Ts 22, but Cornish were penalized for another infringement and the danger cleared. The tight, aggressive rugby was in stark contrast to the home sides tactics, which reverted around getting the ball to their 10 for him to hoof downfield, tactic that was clearly working for on 24 minutes he slotted another long range effort to give his side a 9-0 advantage. Skipper Simon Brading steadied his side as most watching could see that given clean ball, they remained a real threat. On 30 minutes they gained their reward, Brading and McEwen making the first inroads before fly half Rich McKeown sent Keith searing through a gap into the T’s 22. He offloaded the ball as he was felled, Nick Harlock on hand to demonstrate tremendous strength as he carried two tacklers with him as he crashed across the line for the score half way into the posts. A decent conversion followed from McKeown and battle was joined. Now it was all Cornish for period, McEwen repeatedly making the hard yards and often linking with Johnson, him seemingly crawling under tackles at times. On 36 minutes Cornish fashioned room down the blind side only for the final pass to be knocked on with the line gaping. This was the last meaningful action of the half, save for Will Carew-Gibbs receiving a knock to the head that saw him dazed at the break.

Shortly into the second period, it was apparent that Carew-Gibbs could not carry on and the situation dealt with in the first pp was played out. The visitors took the opportunity to remove Turnbull at this juncture, Miran Serdarevic on in his place as the game would no longer require the scrummaging expertise of the Truro man. The Cornish response to being down a man was excellent, their game management pinning T’s back in their 22 for long periods now. The lineout had become a bit of a lottery, locks Pete Calvert and Phil Ridsdale able to fingertip many of the Ts throw ins, but with none of the starting front row now on the park, unable to gain much secure ball on their own lineouts. On a couple of occasions on 50 minutes Cornish kicked to the left hand corner from penalties won wide left, but down a man were unable to rumble the mauls across the line. On 55 minutes they took the scrum option inside the Ts 22, from which McEwen did what he had threatened to do all match and munched over a couple of tackles before plunging over the line for the score to put his side in the lead, McKeown again successful with the conversion to push his side out to a well deserved 14-9 lead. On 65 minutes Cornish replaced wing Tom Burns with Tom Dorse as the Ts tried to wrest control of the match back from their visitors. On two occasions they broke into the Cornish 22 but knocked on in the tackle for the ball to be kicked clear, open side Charlie Wapshott connecting with one particularly long clearance. Both sides began to tire now, lack of condition on a heavy pitch in a strong breeze beginning to show. So the game deteriorated, scrums uncontested and the open play scrappy but Cornish holding the territorial advantage and seemingly the points within their grasp. On 77 minutes the visitors won a penalty just inside their own half, and with a strong wind in their favour and the chance to stretch the lead to two scores, elected to kick it. The attempt fell wide right, and within 60 seconds the visitors were aghast to see a pass on halfway right to left drift forward across the half way line to put the Ts wing clear. He did well to chip ahead over the try line for one of their number to dive on the ball for the equalizing score, an exhausted Cornish 14 having given their all to try and gain the win. The conversion attempt was into the strong wind and flew way wide left, 2 minutes left for the visitors to regain the lead. They nearly did too, fashioning room wide right for the outstanding Harlock to burst away from a tackler and into the home 22 only to see his inside pass knocked away and dead by a home hand, this the final action of the match as the final whistle went.

Twickenham were understandably delighted with their 2 points as it stops a run of narrow defeats, albeit across a 3 month period! They are great hosts at their clubhouse and a happy atmosphere pervades from within, them delighted to have fielded 3 sides at home on the day. They should have too many guns to be embroiled in a relegation battle, and this result may see them be able to look upward again. Cornish are in the middle of a run of 5 away league games in 6 matches at present, and they will need to win more of these if they are to top their best ever league finish of 5th in London 2 South-West. They will welcome back the absentees next week and may well be looking to introduce some of their new signings in the coming weeks, them having performed well in the 2s fine Shield win on the day. Now, where’s that RFU Handbook gone…?

LCRFC – Nick Harlock, Robin Heymann, Graeme Smeaton, Ian Keith, Tom Burns (Tom Dorse), Rich McKeown, Tom Jacob, Andrew McEwen, Charlie Wapshott, Simon Brading (Capt.), Phil Ridsdale, Pete Calvert, James Turnbull (Miran Serdarevic), Will Carew-Gibbs, Hamish Cuming (George Johnson).