During the week a wag emailed your correspondent to say that he preferred it when Cornish lost matches, because the match reports improved. Well mate, knock yourself out! However, the contrast between the exiles performance in the preceding game compared with this one at Guildford was like chalk and cheese. With 17 minutes to go and Cornish leading 18-17, you would be hard pressed to call the eventual score and may well have favoured Cornish, but the already decimated visitors could not compensate for the loss of more players with injury during the game and fell apart in the final quarter, eventually going down by 5 goals, a try and a penalty to 3 tries and a penalty.

With only 7 players surviving from the previous week due in the main to injury and unavailability (a couple of stag weekends claiming a few each), (eg 3 of the 5 props, 4 of the 5 hookers, 3 out of 5 locks and no end of back row all missing), the Cornish pack had a very unfamiliar look. Luke Spells skippered the side from centre, and Mike Bond led the pack. On the bench 2s Skipper Dave Hill stepped up to help out and was joined by Andrew Preston for the first time and by Dave Soar. Guildford’s Broadland HQ has been redeveloped of late and now has excellent facilities to back up a decent pitch. The home side is now coached by former Cornish Pirate favourite Dave Ward, now at Harlequins and living in the town, and his charges had also enjoyed mixed fortunes in their season to date.

On an overcast and cold day, Cornish played down the hill in the opening period against another side struggling for form and consistency. Early inroads by Bond supported by full back Nick Harlock saw the ball overturned on the floor, and both sides countered in turn, rolling grubber kicks into the channels. Hampered by an understandably malfunctioning lineout, Cornish couldn’t gain clean ball, and this was demonstrated on 8 minutes when, following a great break by Spells, G’s were pinged, Cornish kicked to the bottom right hand corner, and then lost the ball at the lineout for the hosts to clear. A frantic, breathless period of play followed, until on the 12th minute the G’s 9 took a quick tap and dashed into the visiting 22, where they won a scrum V after Cornish had pinched the ball on the floor and then been caught over their own try line. Driving steadily forward, the home 8 was able to pick the ball up from the base and dive over for a converted try. If Cornish thought they had problems pre match, these now multiplied many times over when it transpired that hooker Tim Homan had taken a knock and could not continue. Though open side Chris Anstey is a capable hooker, he is not a lineout thrower, and nor were any of the remaining exiles forwards, resulting in the lineout becoming a no go zone for the visitors from this point on in the match. On came Preston at 6, Anstey moving to hooker and the fit again Phil Jones to 7. Anstey was to go on to enjoy his best start for Cornish in the loose, and on 18 he won a penalty on the floor and then saw the home side twice marched back 10 to take the kick within range. Spells kick slammed into the bar, and a G’s back cleared the ball down the right wing where it was fielded by Phil Francis under the watchful eyes of a busy balcony. Advancing at pace, he spun the ball inside to Jones to power at an angle through the defence and to the shadows of the try line, him smashing through the last remaining defender to plant the ball over the line for a try. Spells conversion attempt, though well struck, hit the right hand upright and fell the wrong side. Gradually, the lack of a lineout thrower began to give the home side dominant field position and on 27 after a series of phases, their 10 dummied his way through a paper thin defence to score by the posts, this try improved. Now Guildford were completely dominant for a period, and they quickly added a penalty to stretch the lead to 17-5. Cornish needed to respond or the game would quickly be out of reach, and it was Jones and Anstey who responded to the call, both winning ball on the floor to stem the G’s tide. On 37 minutes fly half Graeme Smeaton used a show and go to break to the home 22, and as Tom Jacob when to pick the ball out of the ruck, a home forward slapped it down to concede a penalty converted by Spells. If Guildford had hoped to coast to the break, they were reckoning without Harlock, enjoying only his 3rd match of the season and now beginning to rediscover his form of last year. He drilled a well flighted grubber to 5 metres out from the line, and when lock Tim Oakes pinched the lineout, Jacob worked his side first one way and then back the other to hit Harlock at pace to step a defender and smash his way through the last tackle and over the line. The conversion was across a stiffening breeze and flew wide, the whistle at the break seeing the exiles 17-13 down.

Cornish began the second period as they had finished the first, and Jacob was quickly in the thick of the action, linking with Bond after Anstey had stolen another ball on the floor. Winning a scrum in the G’s 22, no 8 Mark Osei-Tutu broke from the base and was floored a metre from the line, where a G’s forward was binned for slapping the ball away from Jacob once again. Electing to take a scrum, Cornish smashed away through prop Osei-Tutu, Oakes and finally tighthead Oli Low before Jacob again hit Harlock. This time he had more to do, but his quick feet and powerful running saw him smash his way over for his second try to give the exiles the lead with 45 gone. This conversion also flew narrowly wide, but Smeaton had been injured in the melee and was replaced by Soar at 10. For the next 10 minutes Cornish played some excellent rugby, Jacob working his options well and Soar challenging the visiting defence playing flatter than his predecessor. On two occasions Cornish appeared set to break through but were twice called back for forward passes. When the bin was reversed with 25 left, it had cost the home side only 5 points, but now they could go to their powerful bench. The limiting impact of the exiles inability to win lineouts was no more aptly demonstrated than on 56 minutes, when, after Anstey had won another penalty for holding on halfway, Cornish kicked deep into the home 22 only to see a limp throw wing aimlessly wide of its mark for the ball to be cleared. With a decreasing amount of good quality ball, an ever increasing tackle count, and 2 forced replacements already made, it was an heroic effort for the exiles to have held out as long as they did, but just when the home side began to get frustrated, they struck. Another quick tap saw them into the Cornish 22, and repeated phases of players smashing into the d saw them work room wide right for their wing to cross, the last pass a fine one covering some distance to put the man clear for the try, an excellent conversion following. 3 minutes later and with Cornish on the attack, further misfortune befell the visitors when an inside ball was snaffled by a home back and recycled from right to left to their pacy left wing to step inside and away from the cover to cross under the posts for another converted score. On came Hill for lock Tom Stock, but his first action was to stand under his posts because, in an effort to run the ball out of defence in their 22, the visitors coughed the ball up for Guildford to simply work the ball through the hands for another converted try. With time now running out and the exiles electing not to kick to touch at all, the combined effect of having to make so many tackles and chasing the game saw Cornish pinged for holding. G’s kicked to the corner and won the lineout. Unable to roll their maul over the exiles line, they worked infield to one of their lumpier numbers to power through a tired attempt at a tackle for the last score, this one unimproved. In 17 crazy minutes, Cornish had conceded 26 points and 4 tries.

The programme notes for this match suggested that neither of these two sides will be troubling the scorers at the top end of the league this season, but results on the day would suggest it would be wise not to exclude any eventuality in London 2 South-West on the basis of what we have seen so far. Guildford finished 3rd last season and the perennial bridesmaids are undergoing a transition like Cornish this season. They remain a hospitable bunch and whatever the outcome at the end of the season, we hope to see them next.

For the first time in many seasons, the top 3 sides at Cornish all lost their league matches on Saturday, testament to the vast number of absentees across the club on the day rather than any playing malaise. The 1s actually played well for an hour and the 2s and Choughs went down by a mere 2 points each (The Dukes remain unbeaten and won well on the day). There are two key aspects that will help all the clubs sides from this point on; the first is the imminent return to the clubs training ground in Battersea in the first week of November, which will enable the sides to train together rather than merely in units, and under floodlights rather than street lighting! The second is the return from injury of large numbers of players, the first group of which return this coming weekend. Since this is a club who have frequently never been higher in the league than the position attained on the last day of each season, Cornish need only look to their history to find their inspiration in this Golden Jubilee season.