London Cornish kept their composure to land the required bonus point win with the last play of the game against Dartfordians in London 1 South on Saturday, the key result keeping them in touch with a raft of clubs above them in the league. At times it wasn’t pretty, but it was eventually effective as the hosts, playing on a spare pitch in the bottom left hand side of neighbours Wimbledon RFC’s Barham Road HQ, ground out the result.
Despite another match having been played on it prior to this one, the pitch was in remarkably good condition, a couple of boggy patches and a strong wind all that the sides had to contend with. Darts arrived on the back of a last play of the game defeat to KCS, and they have clearly improved since the pre Xmas meeting. The home support was swelled by the considerable presence of a 90’s Players Reunion, which became more vocal as the game progressed.
Playing away from the main pitches in the opening half, and into a gusting wind, Cornish transgressed early with an accidental offside gifting the visitors the early lead. Worse was to follow as slow starts continue to dog the exiles, a long kick through mishandled on the floor by the tryline, a chasing Darts back given the simplest task of picking up the ball and simply flopping over the line for a converted try, 8 minutes on the clock. A quick reply was vital to settle any lingering Cornish nerves, and it was no surprise that it arrived via the jet shoes of Robbie Mackay, starting in his favoured slot at full back for the first time. Dan Phoenix worked the ball from right to left on half-way, and Mackay twice stepped inside defenders before straightening up, and cantering clear to score under the posts, Phoenix converting. Darts missed a kickable penalty on 16 minutes, and were made to pay when Phoenix made no mistake on 23 minutes following a penalty won by the exiles pack at a scrum on the visitors 22. On the half hour mark, the talismanic Darts skipper was binned for a late tackle. Remarkably, given the wet pitch and the fact the lad is a hooker, for almost the entire 10 minute duration of his binning, there were no scrums. However, just when it seemed they had weathered the storm, a Mackay counter saw the visitors pinged for offside, Phoenix lifting his side into a lead they did not surrender again in the match. This seemed to inspire the home side, who produced a fine passage of play with forwards and backs linking, James La Broy, Jake Slade, Skipper Ed Carne and Mark O’Leary all breaking the gain line to take play to 5 out, where Darts were pinged for not rolling away. Phoenix was asked to eke out the lead further, though his kick struck the inside of one upright and appeared to bounce down into play. The sharp-eyed touch judges were on hand to confirm it had indeed crossed behind the posts, Cornish with a 16-10 half-time lead.
Cornish had made a couple of changes around the break, Andy Hakes on for Adam Wheeler, and Joe Lynch on for Dave Theobald. Twice in the opening minutes of the 2nd half, the home side created half chances, but could not add to their tally. On 43 minutes, only a last ditch tackle from Mackay tracked down the ball carrier inside the exiles 22 after an interception, and a penalty was won for the ball to be cleared; on 47 minutes, it was a bullocking Matt Chambers run taking play into the Darts 22, but a chip in behind was knocked on. This latter passge of play saw Slade take a nasty blow to the chest, him replaced by Theobald. 3 minutes later, Darts knocked on in their own 22, a combination of Andy Munro-Lott and Lynch carrying the ball to the posts, but when a final offload was lost forward, the Darts 8 snaffled it and set off down the pitch. He made it all the way to the 22 before he was collared by Chris Wright, the danger averted temporarily. Another change saw Mo Alothman withdrawn for Matt Hakes in the backs. On 53 minutes, the Kent side made Cornish pay for their profligacy, when they fashioned room wide right for their wing to dive over for an unconverted try. On 61 minutes, AML broke blind from on half-way, and it was Lynch on his shoulder barrelling over the gainline, then sending Mackay through a gap. Angling his run to keep the wings attention, he sent Matt Hakes down the right wing, him evading a last ditch tackle to scamper over wide right, this not improved but the score now 21-15. 5 minutes later, and with the exiles now firing on all cylinders, Lynch, Theobald, Chalkley and Chambers all carried to drive the visitors back to the shadow of their posts, where the bullet like O’Leary smashed his way over just to the right of the posts, Phoenix adding the extras. Wright had suffered a knock in this passage of play, Alothman returning and Wheeler also back on for the evergreen Pete Calvert. With Cornish seemingly in control at 28-15, your correspondent had to retrieve a ball from the river and, whilst there, it transpires Darts found a foothold back in the match when a charge down landed squarely in the hands of one of their number to run in under the posts for a converted try, 28-22 with less than 10 remaining. With the assembled Cornish throng now finding their voices, and the visitors attacking in an attempt to land the knock-out blow, time was running out. Finally, on 78 minutes and with Darts attacking, they were pinged for a man being in front of the kicker inside the exiles half. A decent clearing kick took play to half-way, and when Lynch hit La Broy, the forwards took play infield. AML spotted a mismatch down the narrow side, but Alothman juggled his pass. That split second was enough to wrong foot the Darts d, for as he regathered it, Alothman found clear water to saunter through the gap, draw the full back and send Ryan Webb away inside him for the bonus point try (pictured) to huge cheers from most watching. Phoenix added the coup de grace, Cornish the victors by 35-22.
Dartfordians are always decent value off the pitch, and there was no quibbling about the strange changing arrangements or crowded post match set up from them. They will not buckle in their remaining matches, and tentative discussions have already begun on a pre season match between the sides in August. We wish them well in their remaining 5 games.
For Cornish, the win was the minimum requirement out of the day, and the bonus point a ‘nice to have’. 5 games to go and still all to play for…