You learn the hard way sometimes! London Cornish went down to a heavy defeat at home to league leaders Medway on Saturday, following a fortnight in which the exiles had taken a break, in direct contrast to the visitors who had played and trained on. The upshot was a chasm in physicality between the 2 sides, which was apparent from the opening minute. This is not to detract from a superb performance by the Kent side, who look to be making up for lost time with a great balance to their team, and the depth to back it up – on this evidence, they are a cut above the other sides Cornish have played so far this season and it will take some effort to lower their colours.
Playing away from the clubhouse in the opening half, the home side made a complete horlicks of the kick-off, it touching a hand before bouncing out inside the Cornish 22. A well set rolling maul found an unusually compliant exiles pack no-where near ready, and the first converted try was conceded with barely 60 seconds on the clock. The second followed soon after when a lineout inside the home 22 went awry, and was soon worked to a Medway back to slalom his way over for another converted score. What followed was a steady procession of converted scores, often as the result of home indiscipline giving away a mountain of penalties as the retreating exiles side went into contact far too high both in attack and defence. This rendered the menacing home backline unable to mount any attacks of note until the half-hour mark, when a Chris Kolapo-Ajala run caught the visitors offside in midfield, Skip George Kimmins lifting his kick between the uprights to reduce the arrears momentarily to 3-28. However, despite initially having the nudge on in the tight, an inability to keep hold of possession, combined with a few loose clearance kicks fed a hungry and confident Medway backline, who made no mistake in adding to their score with further tries on 22, 26 and 30 minutes, only the last of which wasn’t converted by their excellent fly-half. Cornish at least showed a little pride when James La Broy and Nick Goss punched holes in the Medway d, before scrum-half Rich Stephens arrowed through a gap on the angle to scamper over for an unconverted try (pictured), the score at the break 8-47.
In recent seasons including this one, Cornish have made a habit of conceding big leads and then clawing them back, but on a perfect playing surface at the REMPF in blustery conditions, there was no coming back from a 47-8 half-time deficit against a team of Medway’s calibre. The home side had made a couple of changes either side of the break, Oli Low on at prop for Mark O’Leary, and Matt Hakes on at blindside for the returning Chris Anstey, and for a period the tide was stemmed as the home d held firm, Medway perhaps a little guilty of trying to play a little too much 7s. With Jake Slade hitting his man at lineout time, Cornish also began to test the home defence for a period too, pinning them in the top right hand corner of the pitch until a visitors player was binned for persistent offences. However, in the strong wind, the lineout wasn’t straight, and when the Medway kicker cleared his lines, the referee deemed a late tackle on him also worthy of a card, so both teams were down to 14 for a period. A stronger defensive effort was beginning to frustrate the visitors, forcing their 10 to kick for territory, and it wasn’t until the 63rd minute that they were able to add to their tally, though this wasn’t improved. The league leaders were able to add a further converted score on 73 minutes when Cornish gave up a penalty and further for backchat, gifting great field position to an already gleeful Medway outfit. However, the exiles had the last word on the match when Kolapo-Ajala, who had been starved of any real meaningful possession throughout, finally released the shackles to sprint through a gap and away from the cover for a try converted by Kimmins.
Medway were gracious victors and they all came back to wash down the post match pasties with a few cans of Tribute. They clearly stepped up their game for this one, which is some scant consolation for the exiles, but they also set the bar that Cornish need to reach to make their next step in the long march upwards. We look forward to the return match and wish them well in their onward quest.
It has been noted in previous match reports this season that you are likely to incur a couple of spankings along the way as you work your way up the leagues, and it is the response to those results that defines a season rather than the results themselves. Cornish have an array of talent now returning to availability from this point onward, and competition for shirts just took a step up with this game. You would expect changes after this result, though the attitude at training is every bit as important. One message has been heard loud and clear – don’t plan on a rest week prior to the next weekend off lads!