On a filthy afternoon in north Kent, London Cornish yet again dug deep on their travels, deservedly landing a losing bonus and contributing fully to a weather-defying entertaining match at the Priestlands HQ of London 1 South promotion contenders Medway on Saturday. Pre match, few would have predicted that the exiles would run their hosts close as the exiles biggest defeat of the season was by 40 points against these opponents, and observers may have stuck with their prediction at half-time, with the visitors just one point ahead and playing into the teeth of Storm Dennis in the 2nd half, but a tremendous team display prevented Medway from crossing their visitors line for the whole of that second 40, only a raft of penalties proving their downfall.
Playing towards the car park in the first half, and with steady, driving rain at their backs, Cornish quickly served notice that Medway were not going to have everything their own way when Dave Chalkley pinched the opening home lineout. However, on 3 minutes the home 10 hit a fellow back on an oblique line to streak clean through the exiles d, and away from the cover to dive over for the opening score half-way in from the left hand touchline. The home kicker struck the conversion attempt well, but still ended up nearer wearing it than seeing it fly between the posts! Though under early pressure in the tight, the Cornish back row of James La Broy, Sam Matanle and stand in no 8 Adam Wheeler were all to enjoy fine matches, and Matanle won the first of many penalties at the breakdown for holding on 10 minutes. After a quick tap, Skipper Ed Carne sent a chip towards the left hand corner, where wing Ryan Webb nipped past his opposite number and twice dribbled the ball forwards before diving over for try wide left. Fly half Dan Phoenix produced a fine conversion to give his side the lead, then added to this 3 minutes later with a penalty, which Matanle again won for holding. On 16 minutes, Cornish lost a forward to the bin for an off the ball incident, and Medway sensed their chance, a quick tap seeing the exiles pinged for not retreating the required distance. Electing for a scrum, the Kent applied the pressure and, though the scrum was twice reset, even with a back stepping into the back row to help, the visitors were under pressure. Eventually, the referees patience snapped and he awarded a penalty try, saving the need for a conversion attempt, and restoring Medways lead. With the wind freshening further, the battle at the breakdown saw the home side pinged on a couple of occasions for sealing off, and one of these on 24 minutes saw Phoenix restore his teams lead. As Medway attempted to run out of their 22 following the restart, they were rucked off their own ball, and Miles Lloyd turned them round with a deft chip in behind rolling to 5 out. The home side knocked on the lineout, and were then pinged at the scrum, this precipitating a furious and prolonged assault on the home try line. The home defence worked overtime at close quarter to repel it and, when the exiles chip on the angle rolled dead, the danger was averted. An early planned change brought on Mark O’Leary in the front row in place of Dave Theobald, but he was forced on the defensive for now it was Medway who were on the front foot for a period. Phase after phase edged Cornish back to their 22, and the passage was only ended when Joe Lynch forced a knock on to allow his side to clear their lines. In the remaining minutes of the half, neither side could gain an advantage, and the whistle went with Cornish 13-12 to the good, and Medway probably very happy with that score line.
Any notion that this was going to be one way traffic for the Kent side in the 2nd half was quickly dispelled, as Cornish flew out of the traps in the opening stanza. Debutant Robbie Mackay, whose influence grew as the game progressed, produced the first of a number of powerful bursts on 42 minutes, and when Carne attempted a repeat of the first half trick with a chip to the corner, only an alert response from the Medway wing prevented Webb from collecting again. 5 minutes later, and as the visitors exited from their 22, an off the ball fracas saw a home back binned. Within a minute it was Cornish pinged for a binding offence at a scrum, the home 10 lifting the ball on the storm wind between the posts to restore his sides lead. When Medway spilt the restart, the exiles had the field position they needed. A weather-defying passage of play followed, hooker Jasper Mowatt, Wheeler, O’Leary, Carne, La Broy, Calvert and Mackay all producing carries to drive play to the shadow of the posts, AML marshalling his advancing troops. Finally, Phoenix and Carne hit Alothman at the angle, him driving through the last tackle to plan the ball over the line for a richly deserved try. Remarkably, Phoenix drove the conversion low and hard into the wind, and before the ball had time to think about it, it was over, blowing back under the posts on the reverse side! Medway would not have considered finding themselves 5 points behind at this point, Cornish freshening up the pack by withdrawing Lynch and Calvert in favour of Theobald and Andy Hakes. The measure of how the game had changed came in the response from the home side to winning kickable penalties; rather than push for the corner to try and score tries, they set about winning the match, and were helped by the referee’s liberal interpretation of the crossing law. On the hour mark, a scrum penalty was conceded by the exiles smack in front, the kick reducing the deficit to 2 points at 18-20; on 64 minutes, the first of the crossing penalties was conceded as Cornish attempted to exit, the lead now lost at 21-20; on 69 minutes another penalty, this time for a ruck offence, another 3 conceded at 24-20; finally, on 73 minutes a further crossing penalty awarded to the home side as their visitors ran from deep, the deficit out to 7 at 27-20. Cornish were not cowed by these penalties, and continued to deploy a fine brand of rugby, a great passage of play up the narrow side in front of the clubhouse seeing Phoenix, Carne, Alothman and Wheeler combine before Webb was bundled into touch deep in enemy territory. A quick lineout saw the home 9 now dash up the same touchline, but Jack Skeritt had come on for AML during the penalty run, and he launched himself at the ball carrier to smash him into touch. The drama was not quite over, Cornish coughing up the lineout in their own half, but when they forced the knock on in midfield, time was up.
The significance of the win for Medway only really became apparent when the days other London 1 South results trickled in – the Kent side were the only side to win in the top 4 and, with only Westcombe Park remaining to play in that group, a chink of light has been restored in their promotion campaign. Great hosts as ever, we wish them well in their quest.
Who knows how significant this valuable losing bonus point will be for Cornish, but perhaps of more significance to those watching was the quality of the performance. This was no smash & grab, but a fully competitive performance against one of the best sides in the league. More of the same will be required in the remaining 6 games!