(An abbreviated report due to being unable to keep many notes in the rain!) In steady rain on an already heavy pitch, London Cornish put enough good rugby together to keep Andover at arms length and keep up the pursuit of promotion to London 1 South. Despite dominating long periods of the match, a combination of a rusty performance due to Cornish not having played 2 consecutive weekends in 2016 to date, and fine defence from the visitors saw the exiles unable to get close to a bonus point. For a team who clearly revel in playing back to back matches, Cornish now need to kick on in the remaining weeks of the league season.
A number of changes saw 2 notable additions to the Cornish squad, former Surrey lock and 100+ 1s cap Pete Calvert recalled for his first start this season, and regular 2s man of the match Matt James given a debut off the bench. Andover arrived in relegation danger, but having demonstrated that they have the stomach for a fight having run other leading teams close in recent weeks. With a equally lumpy pack, Cornish knew the conditions would mean a tough afternoon could be in store. Within the first 90 seconds the visitors had the lead, the home side conceding a penalty inside their 22 for the visiting kicker to convert. The exiles responded on 10 minutes, a Calvert driving run seeing a penalty won, which was kicked to 10 out down the right flank. Ben Ievers claimed the lineout, and an unstoppable rolling maul seeing Chris Anstey claim the try, well converted by full back Josh Allison. Any semblance of this settling the home side was blown away when the visitors closed the gap to a point with a penalty on 15 and then recycling a Cornish knock to their left wing to find the best track of ground on the pitch down the left flank, him dashing over wide left for an unconverted try to give his side an 11-7 lead. The one aspect that Cornish have always been able to rely on in recent seasons has been their scrum, and once again dominance in the set piece was to play a crucial part, a penalty won on 20 seeing Allison reducing the arrears to 1, though he missed a tougher chance on 24 after one of a series of fine breaks by Mark O'Leary. On both 26 and 30 minutes Cornish were guilty of not finishing, the final pass going astray on both sides of the pitch. Allison gave his side the lead back on 32 and after a superb Tom Jeffery run nearly saw him go under the posts, another penalty from the Cornish full back gave his side a 16-11 half time lead and Andover seeing a man binned for killing the ball.
Within 2 minutes of the restart, Calvert and his fellow centurian Will Carew-Gibbs rolled back the years to link with scrum half Ed Atkin, him seeing his hooker hit a fine angle to punch the defence and dive over for a converted try to the left of the posts. With the rain now falling more heavily, a period of scrappy play saw both sides knock the ball on, and though Cornish had the territorial dominance thanks to intelligent kicking from Atkin and Chris Smart, Andover defended the fringes well and were eventually able to clear their lines. Cornish made a triple change at this point, withdrawing the excellent O'Leary (who had recovered from a back injury during the week), Anstey and fly half Phil Dale and replacing them with Rory Ling, James for his debut and James Thomas, who was returning from a few months injury absence. They would have to defend, for Andover produced an astonishing 19 phase play to drive the length of the pitch before winning a penalty to reduce the lead to 9 with 20 minutes left. With the 2 teams forwards shirts now indistinguishable, the visitors missed another penalty opportunity from some way out on 68 minutes, and after a Tom Ievers break on 72 saw Cornish win a pen to the left of the 22, the kick was missed to give Andover a sniff of a bonus point. Poor decision making in the remaining minutes saw a series of penalties give the visitors field position, until one of their front row took a quick tap as Cornish questioned the decision, and crashed over wide right to the obvious delight of the visitors players and coaching team alike. The conversion was well wide but the final score sounded immediately, the home side 23-19 to the good.
There is a right old scrap to avoid the second relegation spot from London 2 South-West, with Andover and Weybridge both seeming to find some form when they need it - their game at Andover on 2nd April may prove pivotal. For Cornish a combination of regular training and regular playing will be needed to extend the fine record of 39 wins in the last 45 London 2 South-West league games and stay in the hunt for promotion.