London Cornish overcame huge adversity to end the only remaining 100% home record in London 2 South-West at Old Reigatian's Park Lane HQ on Saturday, with 14 players missing through injury or work commitments and a further 2 forwards being injured and replaced in the opening half an hour. The 23-10 win was secured by virtue of 2 goals and 3 penalties to 2 tries to maintain the exiles 2nd place position in the league.
A frantic end to the week for the coaching team had seen an entire front row of Mike Bond, Will Carew-Gibbs and Mark O'Leary ruled out through injury, them joined by back rows Mark Johnson and Ben Devonport. However, it was at half back that the real problems set in, with Ed Atkin, Rob Healey, Sam Williams, Dave Soar, Phil Dale and Tom Hupfield all ruled out, while top try scorer Tom Jeffery, and full backs Andy Nichols and Jackson Szabo were also out. Sometimes you just have to trust players, so the calls went out Cornishman Robin Heymann, who has always said he could play 9, and Craig Chatley who 'played 10 when I was younger'! It is to those players great credit that you would not have known they were stand-ins by the end of the match.
A very blustery day on a great pitch considering the overnight rain saw the visitors kick off into the prevailing conditions in the opening period, but after making a hash of a kick in the opening minutes, Cornish were then caught cold at the opening scrum and driven back over their line for Reigatian to score a pushover try, a collectors item against the exiles in the last decade and the first try conceded by Cornish away from home in the league for 328 minutes. The kick was not converted and nor would Cornish given second best in the tight for the rest of the match. The architect of the repost was full back Josh Allison, whose intelligent, low angled kicks in behind have been a feature of recent matches. Once the home side had coughed up the ball in midfield, 2 phases saw centres Joe Donnelly and Luke Spells drive over the gain line, before Chatley hit lock Ben Ievers on the 22 on a wonderful line, piercing the first line d and searing away from the flailing arms of the cover (see picture above) to dive over to the right of the posts for a try converted by Allison. Both sides had kicks charged down in the next period of the match, but the danger was stifled, though Reigatians had begun to find Ievers a real thorn in their side at lineout time. Twice Cornish set rolling mauls from around halfway, and at the first of these after 25 minutes hooker Tim Homan was injured and replaced by Tom Lloyd, Skip Dave Theobald moving to 2. On the half hour mark, lock Harry Somers set a maul on halfway, which drove OR’s back to their 22. When the home side was pinged again, a Mark Osei-Tutu run from the back of next maul saw the home side pinged for being offside in midfield, Allison driving his kick low into the wind to take the lead out 10-5. Osei-Tutu took a blow to a knee at this point, and he too was replaced, Simon Brading a like for like replacement at no 8. Allison made the next break from halfway, and when he passed inside to Rich Skinnard only a lack of support saw the move break down. With a couple of minutes remaining in the half, another Cornish maul was brought down illegally, consigning the home 6 to a spell in the bin, Allison making the score at the break 13-5 to the visitors.

The 2nd half began in the gathering gloom and it was Reigatians again out of the blocks the quickest, but Chatley and Brading locked up the midfield and frequently held up the home ball carriers to see possession turned over. When OR’s tried a maul of their own on 47 minutes, they were shoved into touch by the exiles for the danger to be cleared. With territorial dominance, Reigatians seemed to be chasing the game early, their 9 knocking on at the base of a scrum when in good field position. On 53 minutes, Cornish lost a forward to the bin for not rolling away 5 out, and when a back was put into the pack to bolster the effort, the home side went blind at a twice reset scrum to manufacture a 2 on 1. Skinnard did all he could to prevent the try, breaking his nose in the process, but score Reigatians did to reduce the arrears to 3, the conversion well wide. Cornish responded immediately, Stefan Duda chasing down the kick at the restart, then Reigatian’s conceding a scrum 10 out before being pinged for being offside in midfield, Allison converting his third penalty of the match with around 15 left on the clock. Twice now the home side ran the ball but were turned over in midfield by Brading, him warming to the task and thoroughly enjoying the close quarter combat, joined in battle by fellow back rows Tom Ievers and Chris Anstey. On 70 minutes OR’s knocked on in midfield just to the left of centre outside their 22 – Brading picked up and drove through the 10 channel, before Somers carried on the good work driving to 8 out. Heymann was onto the ball in a flash, spinning a pass to from right to left, Chatley anging his run outside the d, before stepping inside the full back with enough force to allow him to fall to his knees and plant the ball over the line for the game clinching try (see pictures), Allison completing a perfect day with the kicking tee to take the score to 23-10. Reigatians gave it one last lash, but Duda held them up down the blind side and then launched a huge clearance to end the threat. When the final whistle sounded, Cornish could be very content with their days work.
Not many teams will turn Reigatians over at Park Lane this year, but the challenge for the Surrey side is to take their home form on the road because that is what will turn them into a top 4 side. They were great hosts as ever and must be delighted to have finally been able to return to their fine new clubhouse.
Cornish will feel they dodged a bullet with this one, and with a number of those unavailable on Saturday returning to the fold this week, will hope they will not need to demonstrate such depth for some while yet!

Photos courtesy of Tim Evans.