A candidate for the London 1 South 'game of the season' for spectators saw London Cornish go down all guns blazing by 50-39 at Havant on Saturday, the Hampshire side only able to be sure of victory with the final play of the game. The exiles had travelled without a series of key players due to a virus in the camp, and will rue picking up a season ending injury in the backs in the opening 15 minutes, as the reshuffle exposed the soft underbelly of the Cornish d out wide on this day, the hosts good enough to take full advantage.
On a blustery, dry day, one advantage on which Havant could not call was their 4g pitch, for Cornish train exclusively on exactly this type of surface every week. Cornish, playing with the stiff breeze in their favour in the 1st half, missed both an early long range drop goal attempt in the opening attack, then a more realistic penalty on 2 minutes before taking the lead just a couple of minutes later. Scrum half Rich Stephens made the initial incision, offloading to marauding open side Nick Goss to take the ball to the red zone, before his offload sent veteran hooker Will Carew-Gibbs over half way in to the right hand upright, for his first try since crossing at Basingstoke RFC on 16th March 2016, such have been his injury problems. George Kimmins converted, then saw the Hav kicker miss his first attempt with a penalty on 8 minutes. Havant levelled things up on 13 minutes when they worked room wide right for their wing to cross, a decent conversion made. On 15 the visitors responded, centre Sam Vaughan producing a great burst from on half way, and just as he went to step the last man in the shadow of the posts, his knee gave way, though he offloaded to allow Stephens and Kimmins to combine and send Rory Stanyard scampering over for a try, also converted. The initial diagnosis is that Vaughan will need to spend a couple of months on the sidelines. On came Harry Buttery at 15, Dan Phoenix moving to centre. The game, which had a feisty edge throughout, saw Jamie Owen and Matt Hakes combine down the left hand flank on 20, linking with James La Broy who was held up over the line. Cornish drove Hav back over their line at the scrum, but the referee elected for a reset and then pinged Hav, Kimmins taking the lead out to 17-7 with the kick. 5 minutes later Hav were on the attack, but overthrew a lineout 5 out from the exiles line, from where Cornish countered. When the ball went out just over half-way, a skirmish broke out, Hav penalised and then marched back 10. Cornish kicked to 5 out, Dave Chalkley claimed Carew-Gibbs arrow, then Stephens sniped his way over from close in for another try converted by Kimmins. This action also saw the home 7 binned, but in a see-saw match Hav were next to attack, only for another overthrown lineout to allow the excellent Nathan Hull to clear long. Cornish needed to see it out to the half, but when an attempted interception went wrong, 2 exiles defenders fell over each other to invite a Hav back to break away for a converted try, narrowing the deficit to 24-14, that the score at the break.
Now facing the wind, Cornish needed to show discipline and structure in the opening quarter of the 2nd half, but on this rare occasion, they showed none of either! First they pushed a player in the air to concede field position, then they lost a man to the bin for a red zone infraction. Poor tackling from the set piece saw the hosts cross wide right for a converted try, and within 3 minutes Havant had the lead when they broke clean through in midfield for another maximum, 28-24 now the score. On 54 minutes Hav attacked wide, and when one of the exiles backs simply fell over, a huge gap opened up through which the home side strolled for their 4th converted try in a 16 minute spell either side of the break, turning the match completely on its head, and giving Cornish a stark reminder of their early season travails, 35-24 to Hav now. The home side handed 3 points back when they needlessly conceded a pen at the restart, though the kick into the wind was no formality for Kimmins, who landed it with aplomb. The visitors replaced Dave Theobald and David Chalkley with Oli Low and Jake Slade, but the new pair could only wince as more poor defence saw a Hav back wriggle free from a tackle to dive over for an unconverted try. Carew-Gibbs took a knock during this passage of play, and was withdrawn as a precaution, Chalkley returning. Momentum is a fickle mistress, and no sooner had the home supporters started relaxing in their seats, their team lost the thread. The architect of the comeback was the exiles young Skipper, who suddenly galvanised his side by running the ball from every angle. He scythed through blind on 65 minutes, sending Stanyard to 5 out where quick ball was recycled for Hakes to smash his way over for an unconverted try (pictured), though this brought the try bonus point, and reduced the deficit to 40-32. Sensing the shift, the home 10 dropped a goal 2 minutes later to put clear water between the sides again, but still the exiles wouldn't lie down. Kimmins broke through again on 71 but the final pass was knocked on. His side returned to the 22 following a bullocking Pete Calvert run, Goss and Hull ripping through tackles to take the ball to the red zone. A series of phases on the try line eventually saw La Broy smuggle the ball under players for a try quickly converted by his skipper, and now Cornish were just 43-39 down with just under 5 minutes left. Though they lost the restart, Cornish quickly regained possession, and in true cavalier fashion decided to run the ball from depth. However, this exposed the possibility that the exiles could lose their precious losing bonus point, and when Hav pinched the ball back, they went through a tremendous series of phases before fashioning room to flop over by the posts, the conversion the final act on a breathless game.
Its difficult to know quite where Havant are in the theatre that is London 1 South. The lop sided nature of their season means they have taken until now to balance out their home and away fixtures, and it may be that the remaining 7 fixtures will tell us as much as anything that has preceded them. They remain decent hosts and expect Havant to be back amongst the front runners next season.
This match gave the Cornish coaching team some idea of where the club needs to focus its recruitment efforts in the close season, but with all those absent with the virus already having reported back fit, and at least one new signing good to go, there are some selection decisions to make for next week.