It took barely 5 minutes of this London 1 South encounter between Sevenoaks and London Cornish for a major component in the visitors gameplan to begin to unravel, for that was how long hooker Jake Slade lasted before breaking a hand. The exiles woes with their hookers this season have been well documented on these pages, and when, shortly after half-time, back up hooker Nick Goss also came off injured, the Cornish lineout became more comfortable when they weren't throwing in! Worse was to follow, for prop Jamie Robert-Tissot suffered an horrendous knee injury in the final quarter to cap a very tough day from a medical perspective for the club, and we wish both the badly injured lads well with their respective recoveries. It is just as well Cornish load their squads with 5 players capable of playing in the front row, and have substantial depth up front to rely on in the final 2 matches, the likes of prop Mark O'Leary and hooker Chris Anstey rested for this match. That the exiles so nearly clawed their way back into contention in this game, and landed 5 tries in the process, says much about the spirit in the camp.
Cornish arrived at The Knowle to find a narrow but firm pitch, and with Oaks still in need of a win to be mathematically safe, the chances of them being fired up for this one were high. The visitors opened playing towards the end with the sloped in-goal area, and into a strong wind. The fears were well founded, for with their first attack on 5 minutes, the Oaks diminutive 10 wriggled through a gap, before a supporting lock drove over for a converted try to the left of the posts. Slade was injured in the next passage of play, Robert-Tissot on in his place and the pack rejigged. On 13 minutes, Kimmins hit Chambers to flip the ball to open side Tom Ievers on a pop pass at an oblique angle outside the home 22, and the bang in form back row arrowed his line outside the cover to sprint in for a try wide right, not improved. Oaks stretched the lead to 10-5 with a penalty on 16, and then their 7 found a huge gap in the exiles d to saunter over under the posts for a converted try on 22, the home side 17-5 ahead with barely a quarter of the match gone. With lock Elliot Cave prominent in the opening period in his last match for the club before returning to his native NZ, the game remained open and entertaining for a decent and appreciative crowd. On 31 minutes, Oaks attacked from the base of a scrum from deep inside their 22, and a great interchange of passing took them most of the length of the field before a fine covering tackle by Matt Hakes downed their man and Cornish won a penalty for holding to clear. It didn't take long for the home side to add to their score however, a neat blind side move creating an extra man to weave over wide right for another converted try. Once again, the exiles would need to respond to stay in touch, now 24-5 behind. A series of driving runs by Cave, Ievers, Sam Vaughan and Oli Low took play to the 22, and when Kimmins hit Ievers running right to left on the 22, he freed his arms to send left wing Andy Hill into space. Hill has had a quiet time of late, but now he showed he is returning to form, standing up the full back before dashing over for a try (pictured) converted by Kimmins, Oaks 24-12 to the good at the break, but the exiles now with the wind at their backs.
Cornish brought Harry Somers back into action for the first time since January shortly after the break, Cave making way for the time being. Oaks began the 2nd half well, fashioning an overlap wide left only to drop the ball with the line gaping. When they then found their rolling maul halted by Somers, they became frustrated and were marched back 10 for backchat for the exiles to clear. On 51 minutes Cornish produced a picture book try from a scrum inside their own half. Vaughan hit Hill on an inside ball to fly through a gap, and with the confidence of his first half score behind him, he accelerated away from the cover to plant the ball down, the conversion attempt slamming into an upright and wide but the visitors now within 7. However, in an end to end game that smacked a little of the seasons end, Oaks scored with their next attack wide right, their kicker taking the home score into the 30's. Cornish withdrew Oli Low, moved Goss into hooker and brought Cave back on in the row, but falling off tackles saw Oaks score again as their full back rounded to the posts for another converted try, them 38-17 ahead and the game seemingly buried. This last passage of play saw Vaughan suffer a dead leg, Harry Buttery on and another rejig required, this time in the backs. On 66 minutes Cornish produced a fine passage of play beginning with a tap penalty just inside Oaks half. Cave, La Broy and Chambers all made punishing yards, before Stephens hit Kimmins at pace and his pass saw Ievers break clean through only to be barged to the ground 2 feet out, the referee awarding a penalty try. Within 2 minutes it was game on! A 22 drop out was fielded by Chambers, and when Stephens and Kimmins went blind, it was Ievers again breaking the line to link with La Broy and Somers taking play into the Oaks 22. Quick ball and Chambers stepped through a tackle, offloading to Smart to dive over for the try, Kimmins reducing the arrears to 7 with the conversion. With a number of the exiles players now playing with knocks, and only single digits remaining on the clock, Oaks managed to play much of the remaining part of the game inside the visitors 22. When Cornish did finally land the ball, they might have been more judicious to put boot to it given the following wind, but on 2 occasions they knocked on when trying to run from deep. It was on one of these occasions that Robert -Tissot suffered his knee injury, the result of which could well see the lad out for 12 months. The danger in trying to chase the game in these situations is that you might concede a penalty, and so it proved, a daft one to give away pinching the losing bonus point from the exiles with 3 minutes left, though in truth they hadn't looked like closing the gap any further in those remaining minutes. When Oaks walloped a penalty over the clubhouse, they had prevailed in a 10 try thriller that means the 2 teams will face off again in this division next season.
Sevenoaks and Cornish have played each other in friendlies, cups, play-offs and the league in recent seasons, so know each other well, and the convivial atmosphere in the bar post match demonstrated that whatever the results, these 2 clubs enjoy each others company. As ever great hosts, we look forward to catching up with Oaks again in 2018-19.