Tottonians gained revenge for the defeat they suffered the previous month in London when they comprehensively outplayed London Cornish at their Water Lane HQ on Saturday, the home side making far more profitable use of their possession than their visitors to win by 3 goals, a try and a penalty to a solitary try. In an error strewn match, that had more than a whiff of end of season about it, Cornish left grateful for the profligacy of the home backs in the last quarter as this defeat could have been far worse, but also pondering how they could have looked so far from winning a match in which they won 7 strikes against the head and at least an equal amount of lineout ball.

Cornish arrived at the Hampshire ground in good time despite an accident closing the M3 for a period on the journey down. Though Mike Bond and Mark Osei-Tutu had both passed muster to start despite recent injuries, fly half Rich McKeown was absent with a shoulder injury and lock Pete Calvert was injured in training, them joining the already injured Will Carew-Gibbs, Rob Aird, Simon Brading and Ian Keith on the sidelines. When Chris Alder had to pull out due to work commitments, the exiles had to call on club stalwart Rod Petre to fill a slot on the bench, this despite the player hardly having trained due to work commitments in recent months. Both sides have fallen away in their promotion ambitions in recent weeks, so the pressure was off for this encounter.

Cornish began the game playing away from the road on a pitch bereft of grass in the central areas. Though beginning well with Conor O’Daly angling some decent kicks in behind the Totts back 3, it was the home side on the board within 5 minutes when a series of missed tackles from a counter attack saw the home left wing given a free run in under the posts. The home kicker doesn’t miss these and his side was 7-0 up with their first attack. Within a minute the visitors had a chance to reduce the arrears but the penalty attempt was dragged wide of the left hand upright. Responding well to the early setback, 2 minutes later quick ball put centre Nick Harlock into space on half way. He handed off a tackler and burst clear down the right flank only for his inside pass to be intercepted and cleared. A minute later and the same player nearly repeated the trick to be tackled just yards from the home try line, this time Totts offending on the ground. A scrum V was called but when won, a visiting lock managed to boot the ball back to the home side to win it and clear. For fully 10 minutes the exiles hammered away inside the home 22, winning scrums and lineouts at will but hampered by a handling display that had to be seen to be believed, time and again the ball knocked on or passed forward when in promising positions. On 20 minutes and with their second attack, Totts won a penalty and demonstrated the simple art of taking points when you get the chance to stretch out to a 10-0 lead. 4 minutes later and it was the home coach who would have been tearing his hair out, his side losing a scrum V against the head. He shouldn’t have worried for his side responded immediately, their 10 slipping through a non existent guard to score by the posts, this conversion also a formality. Though Ed Nimmons was winning plenty of lineout ball, Cornish simply did not earn the right to go wide and too frequently butchered quality ball by becoming isolated or knocking on, scrum half Dave Madigan rarely having the luxury of players arriving at pace from depth on his flanks. A couple of players did stand out for the exiles, and one was Harlock, him again powering clear of his man on half way and arrowing down the right wing only to be tackled into touch yards from the line by a superb piece of covering by Totts right wing on 31 minutes. Though Cornish continued to win ball against the head, they were simply not working hard enough to retain possession, and on 35 minutes conceded a terrible try when the home 13 broke a tackle and simply dummied his way all the way to the try line without a finger being laid on him, the third such try Cornish have conceded in recent weeks. Amazingly, the conversion attempt slammed into the upright and the whistle went at the break with Cornish 22-0 down.

A few choice words were used to fire up the visiting contingent at the break, but Totts still created the first good chance of the half, it being stopped by a fine tackle from full back Tom Dorse. With Bond, the livewire George Johnson and Skipper Dave Theobald continuing to pose problems for their opposite numbers in the tight, Cornish knew that they would could still get back in the game. Osei-Tutu suffered a reoccurrence of his injury on 45 to be replaced by Petre. On 49 minutes another 6 phase attack by Cornish broke down when they knocked on simple passes in midfield inside the home 22, and 2 minutes later Bond also suffered a reoccurrence of his injury, Hamish Cuming on in his stead. 5 minutes later the exiles were finally on the board, wing Tom Burns breaking down the right flank, and when O’Daly flung a cutout pass across the 22, no 8 Andrew McEwen was on hand to run it in not far from the posts. The less said about the conversion attempt, the better. Now Cornish tails were up, but once again profligacy stopped them in their tracks, a Nimmons lineout win followed by a Graham Smeaton break supported by Burns but again the final pass being grassed with the try line in sight. This last error seemed to knock the stuffing out of the visitors, for the remaining 22 minutes were all about how many tries Totts could rack up as they seemingly broke through at will. They managed a try out wide on 64 minutes when an embarrassing mix up saw a pass slam into the head of an unintended recipient to put the home 9 in the clear down the narrow side. He drew the last man and put his wing away to score, the Totts kicker nailing a great kick from the touchline for a 29-5 lead. Burns was now withdrawn in favour of Iain Short on the wing. That Totts did not score again is something of a mystery – on 66, 68 and 70 minutes they manufactured huge overlaps but on all three occasions were called back for forward passes or knock ons. They missed a penalty on 71 and spent the remaining minutes hammering away inside the Cornish 22, stout defending from Johnson, Charlie Wapshott and McEwen in particular holding them at bay. Its fair to say Cornish welcomed the final whistle far more than Totts.

Totts will once again end the season in the top few of the division without quite being able to make the final step. At least this gives the two sides the chance to renew acquaintances again next season, something they will be keen to do as they have become firm friends off the pitch. Cornish began this match with only 2 players who were at the club at the end of last season, and it has been too big an ask to move from a side dominated by the metronomic boot of Dan Pollard (now firing Bournemouth to the promotion play offs in National 3 South-West) to one playing an all court game with so many new faces around. With the backbone of the side injured, there is clearly still work to be done on building squad depth, and the remaining games of the season will help determine just how many of this seasons new faces will be involved next.

LCRFC – Tom Dorse, Robin Heymann, Nick Harlock, Graeme Smeaton, Tom Burns (Iain Short), Conor O’Daly, Dave Madigan, Andrew McEwen, Charlie Wapshott, Mark Osei-Tutu (Rod Petre), Phil Ridsdale, Ed Nimmons, Dave Theobald, George Johnson, Mike Bond (Hamish Cuming).