Despite conceding 3 tries in the opening quarter, and 4 tries in the last 13 minutes of their first ever visit to Westcombe Park RFC in London 1 South on Saturday, a hugely disrupted London Cornish will still take plenty from the 52-26 defeat. A combination of reasons saw the exiles forced into fielding many players playing out of position, and a few lads who hadn’t had to play at this level for a few seasons, and to a man they gave their all. For their part, the home side had enough about them to finish on every occasion they had the opportunity in those closing minutes, and will take plenty of encouragement from the win. In a bruising encounter with both benches forcibly emptied, we hope all injured players from both clubs recover quickly.
Park were relegated from London Prem on the last day of the season, and this well appointed Kent club have a set up worthy of a higher status. However, the last decade or so has seen them gradually slip down the leagues, and now they find themselves at Level 6. An early reverse at Thurrock suggests it will not be so easy to return from whence they came, but they started and ended this game at a canter. In unseasonably warm weather and on a vast pitch, Cornish played towards the clubhouse in the opening half, and were forced into a mjor reshuffle before the scoreboard had been troubled, hooker Jake Slade knocked out and replaced. The reshuffle forced Cornishman Ian Dowie into prop and Mark O’Leary to hook, 2s Skip and centre Mark Shields on in the back row with the exiles having no forwards available on the bench (Dowie is a competent fr, and Hakes a competent br). Park scored with their opening foray into the exiles 22 when they worked room wide left for their wing to score, though it was not improved. They added to their lead from a scrum V on the quarter hour mark when their 8 ran thru non existent d to plunge over for a converted try, and 3 minutes later they were over again when a missed tackle saw another back shepherded over for a converted try. This resulted in another exiles reshuffle, Shields withdrawn for wing Matt Hakes to resume his sometime back row role, Steffan Lloyd on out wide. Cornish missed a long range penalty on 20 minutes, and Hakes quickly demonstrated his appetite for close quarter action, winning a penalty for holding as Park attacked on 23. On 25 minutes, a Jack Vosper fly hack took play deep into the Park half, and when they transgressed at the breakdown, Skip George Kimmins made no mistake with the penalty. 2 minutes later and with Cornish warming to the task, Kimmins made a break of his own and when he chipped wide only the bounce of the ball took it away from the onrushing Rory Stanyard in acres of space. Park lost a lock to injury at the lineout, and following a typical James La Broy run, which was halted by a high tackle, Kimmins doubled his sides score. Now one of the home backs needed to be replaced after suffering a head injury, the home kicker missing a penalty from bang in front on 38. Having worked their way back into the game, Cornish would have been very disappointed to conceded a very soft try with the final play of the half, falling off tackles to allow a home back to scoot over under the posts, the score 26-6 at the break.
Cornish began the 2nd period with far more cohesion than seen in the opening period, and won a series of penalties as La Broy, Joe Donnelly, Hakes and Oli Low launched a series of driving runs, during which the home side lost a prop with a pulled hamstring. At the final of these pens, Cornish elected for a scrum 10 out, and Kimmins made a half-break before sending Lloyd in on the angle to score (pictured), which the skipper converted. 3 minutes later and the momentum had truly switched, a neck roll seeing a Park forward binned and Kimmins landing a howitzer penalty from distance off the inside of the far post, the score now 26-16. At every breakdown now, Park players seemed to be injured as the exiles upped the ante, and on 56 minutes Cornish launched a huge rolling maul from just inside the home half to deep into the 22 before it was hauled down for another penalty. The visitors kicked for the corner, and when Chalkley took the lineout, it appeared the Park pack had decided not to engage, but also not to make 2 of their number aware of the plan, for the giant lock was able to crash across the line for the try, Kimmins reducing the deficit to a mere 3. Centre Dave Funston had taken a knock in this exchange, bringing on Phil Dale at 9 for his first run out for the 1s in a few years, Phoenix moving into the centres. Dale won the next penalty when his quick feet caught a defender off balance, a high tackle seeing a long range penalty attempt fall short on the hour mark. In a flash, the momentum switched back to Park, a visiting forward binned for an infraction on 65 and the home 8 able to dive over from close in for a converted try. La Broy won another penalty landed by Kimmins on 67, yet another Park man injured at this point and the score now 33-26, the hamstrung prop returning to thr fray, but in the remaining 10 minutes an exhausted Cornish side missed a series of key one-one-one tackles to concede 3 tries from distance, 19 points adding gloss to the tally for Westcombe Park, worthy victors by 52-26.
Park will undoubtedly have tougher days than this, and it will be interesting to see how their depth copes because they certainly lost a number of players with injuries during this match. It looks as though their key period will be in October/November when they match up with other sides in the league with more resources, and we look forward to hosting them on the other side of the break.
The new Cornish coaching team continue to learn plenty about their players in these opening weeks, and about who can make the step up. The club will have used around 30 players in their opening 4 fixtures by the time the next selection has been made, so everyone has been given a chance and it will be interesting to see who makes the cut now selection gets more competitive!