Unbeaten London Cornish soaked up everything Winchester could throw at them at the REMPF on Saturday, before striking decisively 3 times in the last half hour to win going away and maintain their lead at the top of London 2 South-West. This was a very strong team performance from the league leaders, who seem to save their best for the Hampshire side, and it needed to be for the visitors cannot be faulted for laying their bodies on the line for the cause, them a battered and well beaten bunch at the final whistle.

Cornish were able to recall Jake Slade at hooker, and with Dave Theobald, Tim Homan and Dan Leo unavailable (the latter having guested for Quins v NZ Maori and Mickey Steele Bodgers XV v Cambridge University in the last couple of weeks), the only other change in the pack saw Tom Ievers return at open side in place of the injured Jamie Saunders. Out wide, Paddy Dean continued at fly half with George Kimmins return delayed until December, but the exiles were able to recall top try scorer Dave Smith at full back.

Despite the torrential rain in the early part of the week, the pitch at the REMPF was in outstanding condition, and with Winchester having beaten Reigatians in their previous league encounter, no one was about to take this match lightly. Cornish began playing away from the clubhouse into a slight breeze at a tremendous lick, and with great continuity following driving runs by man of the match James La Broy, props Mark O’Leary and Oli Low, and lock Ben Ievers, the home side worked their way into the visitors 22. Fine passing across the backs gave Tom Jeffery a 1 on 1 with his opposite number. No contest – 5-0 to Cornish after the conversion flew narrowly wide. Defences were in the ascendancy for much of the opening half, bone crunching tackles from both forwards and backs seeing the visitors lose a wing to an injury. Winch have a well balanced side, and they probed for weakness across the pitch, but each time they threatened the exiles 22 in the 1st half, they turned over lineouts with Ben Ievers giving the visiting hooker a torrid afternoon, or spilt the ball in offloads. Equally, Cornish were probably guilty of kicking away too much good possession at this point, and when they won a penalty wide left for a ruck infringement, Dean stepped up to extend the lead to 8. The visitors responded with one of their own on 36 minutes and both sides would have felt they could win the match at the break, though Cornish could draw on the fact that they have dominated every match in the second period since the opening day of the season where it matters most, on the scoreboard. This game was to prove no different.

Winchester opened the second half well, landing a penalty to close the deficit on 47 minutes. Cornish made a change now, bringing on Tom Lloyd for Low, and within 5 minutes the veteran prop struck a decisive blow when he drove over wide right for his second try in successive matches following a Rich Stephens break deep into the Winchester 22. With the conversion from Dean successful, the league leaders had stretched their lead out to 15-6. Sensing their moment to strike, Cornish upped the game, landing further penalties on 55 and 62 minutes, one for an offence on the floor and another for the illegal halting of a rolling maul following another Ben Ievers claim and a Slade driving run. Winchester responded, pinning Cornish in their 22 and trying mauls, switches, cut out passes and loops to try and punch through the home rearguard, but all to no avail. It cost them too, for both their influential Skipper and their talismanic no 8 were injured in this passage of play and had to be replaced, the latter with a knock to the neck from which we hope he recovers quickly. The home side withdrew their own talisman at this point, Harry Somers replaced by Chris Anstey with La Broy into the row, and Dean replaced by Robin Trott at 10. With the triumphant 2nd XV now in attendance, Cornish had saved their best til last. A Stephens break, then angled run from Dave Funston saw the first line d penetrated, and when Tom Ievers was on hand, it took a few more wonderful offloads before the ball landed in the hands of Smith, who simply had too many wheels for the Winch cover to plant the ball down wide right, the conversion short but the score out to 26-6. With 10 out of 10 already in the bag, the final question was all about the bonus point. The visitors discipline had gone, and they didn’t helped themselves when twice marched back into their 22 for backchat to the referee. At the scrum, Cornish opened up the blind side for Mark Osei-Tutu to sprint away from the cover, draw the last man and slip a delightful offload to Jeffery lurking out wide, him delivering the coup de grace to the delight of his team mates and the home support. With the conversion mishit, this was the final scoring act of the match, Cornish well worth their 31-6, 4 try to nil win.

Winchester had felt that they were edging back into the promotion hunt with their recent return to form, but they have now slipped to 6th place, 11 points behind the team in 2nd. They face a couple of crucial games up to the break, and will want to win those to prevent the season slipping away.

This was another strong showing from Cornish, but the squad know they cannot relax with 2 important matches of their own in the run up to Christmas. The gathering strength of the 2s was demonstrated on the day with a 41-14 demolition of CS Rugby 2s in the Zoo Sports League, which saw the successful comebacks of Rory Ling, Joe Donnelly and Miles Rushworth and the debuts of a couple more interesting new signings, so there is increased competition for places when the action returns in a couple of weeks time.