In the 19th match of the series between these two long standing opponents in which the tally stood at 9 wins each prior to this match, London Cornish and Tottonians fought out the first ever draw in a pulsating encounter at Water Lane in London 1 South on Saturday. It was a game that both sides will have felt they could have won, but neither side really deserved to lose, and after a hiatus of 3 seasons without playing one another, this was definitely a case of 'vows renewed' as the pre and post match festivities between the sides lived up to the best traditions that draw these 2 clubs so close together.
Cornish fielded a near full strength pack for the first time this season, Mark O'Leary and Dave Theobald selected up top, Tom Ievers returning at 7 and Matt Chambers at 8 allowing Claude Springer to move to 6. In the backs, scrum half Rich Stephens returned for the first time in 4 matches, Dan Phoenix came in at 13, and Matt Hakes and Tom Jeffery on the wing. The late loss of bang in-form centre Dave Funston to an ear infection was covered with Harry Buttery coming in on the bench, and Andy Hill moving to full back. However, nobody could have predicted the carnage that utterly disrupted the Cornish back line in the opening 40 of this match. Playing away from Water Lane, in the very first move of the match the tone was set when Skip George Kimmins and centre Joe Donnelly clashed heads. Donnelly recovered quickly but Kimmins required lengthy treatment, and you could have been in no doubt as to the impact as a huge egg appeared on his forehead for the rest of the match. He recovered to see his side dominate the opening period, with battering runs from both locks Harry Somers and James La Broy, supported by huge performances by Chambers and Springer. The home side eventually conceded a penalty, and Kimmins landed it on 12 minutes. Shortly after this, Hill made a break but injured a thigh as he was tackled, another lengthy break seeing him strapped up but moving very gingerly. Totts, who missed a kickable penalty on 15 minutes, struck twice in 3 minutes with the Cornish d out wide disrupted. The first saw their powerful inside centre score out wide for a converted try, and the second when their outside centre broke away down the right flank for an unconverted try. Within minutes Phoenix took a knock to the head and had to come off for an HIA, his place taken by Harry Buttery, with Hakes moving into centre and Hill onto the wing. Somers also took a blow to the mouth, but after treatment for a cut was able to carry on. Phoenix passed his HIA and came on for Hill, who had become a passenger with his thigh strain. Cornish had a clear dominance in the tight, and used this to drive their hosts back on 26 minutes, before 2 phases found Kimmins in space to dart through a gap on the angle and score wide left, the try unconverted but the arrears down to 4. Springer was the next to go down, a knock to the knee requiring further lengthy treatment before he was able to carry on. It was just as well, for on 33 minutes he was the beneficiary of a huge Cornish rolling maul, set from the 22 down the right flank, Somers claiming the arrow from hooker Ken Onwuka, and Springer reaching out to plant the ball over the line, the try unconverted but Cornish now in the lead. On 35 minutes, the exiles lost a man to the bin for a no arms tackle, and when the home kicker punished the offence with the 3, Totts had the lead at the break by 15-13.
It was clear at the break that though he had passed his HIA, Phoenix was not able to continue, and with no other options back row Nick Goss was the man selected to take the 13 berth. Cornish also withdrew O'Leary for Jamie Robert-Tissot at this point. (Your correspondents phone, on which he takes notes and tweets score updates, crashed at this point and did not recover for the entirety of the match, so apologies for any inaccuracies that follow!) In front of an excellent crowd, bolstered by a very significant Cornish contingent clad in black & gold, it was Totts who were on the scoreboard first in the second period, a rolling maul brought down close to the line, but one of the home forwards scampering over wide out for an unconverted try. The game now became a classic end to end encounter, with the Cornish forwards dominating, and the Totts backs doing the same. On 48 minutes, after a tremendous series of powerful phases, Chambers, Somers, Ievers and Onwuka to the fore, La Broy took a pop pass to crash through tackles and over under the posts, Kimmins levelling the scores up at 20 all. Back came Totts, and Cornish would have been disappointed to allow the hosts to score their bonus point try from some way out, as there were a couple of occasions on which tackles should have been made, the conversion giving the home side a 7 point lead on 54 minutes. Cornish could always rely on their scrum however, and on the hour mark the home backs were caught offside at a retreating scrum. Kimmins kicked to the left hand corner, and once La Broy claimed the lineout, the rolling maul that followed was downed with Chambers in possession inches out. As any decent scrummie would, Stephens was on hand to snipe under tackles and over for the bonus point try (pictured), Kimmins levelling things up once more. Any hope Cornish had that they could take momentum from the score was blown away within minutes, Totts running from deep again and the understandably disorganised exiles d unable to prevent a try near the posts for the home 12, the conversion added once more and 13 left on the clock. On 71 minutes, Cornish forced a knock on at the base of a retreating Totts scrum on their 22, Theobald giving his opposite number a torrid time all afternoon. Another Chambers carry brought Cornish to the 22, and when Kimmins hit Goss down the short side, the open side cum centre showed hitherto unseen quick feet, sidestepping off both feet to slalom his way past the remaining defence to dive over for a superbly finished try, Kimmins holding his nerve to land the equalising conversion. The visitors dominated most of the remaining minutes, twice winning penalties some way out in central positions. The first slammed into the right hand upright and down the wrong side, and the other from just inside the Totts half flew narrowly wide. Totts rode their luck with these before launching a final attack under their balcony down the left wing. They worked their way to 5 out, but Somers pinched the ball as it squirmed out of a ruck, and Stephens put the ball into touch for the final whistle to sound on an absorbing match.
Tottonians are going through a transition period at present, with their new Coaching team bedding in this season. They remain competitive as ever and you can see whey they both score and concede plenty of points, which makes them similar to Cornish in that respect. Its great to be playing them again, and the return should be another belter, with probably nothing riding on it for either side. We should also concede that Totts produce comfortably the best programme in the division, and are generous in handing them out too.
Cornish will take a huge amount from this match, in particular as the pack is finally taking the shape we had hoped it would. The backs will rarely have to cope with the disruption they faced in this match, and with plenty more players to come back in, there is real excitement building about the second half of the season. The exiles reach the half-way point in the season on 39 points and in 5th place in the division at the first time of asking. Thats a decent return, but one with plenty of room for improvement!