In pouring rain in a match switched from the waterlogged Richardson Evans Memorial Playing fields home of London Cornish RFC to the Rugby Lane HQ of London 2 South-West league leaders Sutton & Epsom, the exiles suffered a 6th defeat of the season in a match that demonstrated much of why they are now in the bottom 3 in the league. Leading for long periods of the match, Cornish suffered another injury to a key player down the spine of the side, and despite a much improved performance all round, eventually succumbed to a side for whom a couple of individuals stood out some distance above the rest. Having already used 40 players in the 9 league games to date, Cornish will now be forced to reach outside that number as the injury to scrum half Tom Jacob is a very nasty one likely to keep him out for some months.

Already shorn of a ridiculous 21 players through injury, Cornish were at least able to recall Chris Anstey at 7, though centre Dave Warwick was an additional absentee having suffered a random concussion during the week, Iain Short called in at 12 and Stefan Duda on the wing in place of Robin Heymann, whose work meant he would be spending his weekend at Interlagos (which must have made him feel at home given it piddled with rain there too). Despite the torrential rain, the main pitch at Rugby Lane was a credit to the groundsman, in superb condition with no standing water, a fine covering of grass and surprisingly firm. The two Committees had worked miracles in a very short time frame to get this and the 2s match on, and credit must be given to all at Sutton for preparing pre and post match entertainment on top of the fine surfaces.

Cornish played towards the clubhouse in the opening period under floodlights, a disappointingly small crowd present given the fact that Sutton are league leaders. Those absent missed a better match than the one they witnessed at Twickenham, though most Cornishmen would have had their eyes on the games at Redruth and Barking rather than the English HQ. Cornish supporters at this match outnumbered their hosts by around 5:4, that being the actual number. It didn’t take long for the home side to have their opening opportunity, a penalty conceded by the visitors seemingly at point blank range on 2 minutes slamming into the right upright and causing some chaos just in front of the posts before full back Nick Harlock scrambled it clear. 3 minutes later, the exiles Skipper Dave Theobald was quickest to react to a loose ball on the floor, and in winning it also won his side a kickable penalty but this also failed to register as it slid wide of the right hand upright. On 10 minutes, Pete Calvert and George Johnson drove into the Sutton 22, and when Mark Osei-Tutu powered towards the line, Sutton were again pinged for not rolling away, but this penalty also flew wide as kicking conditions deteriorated in the steady rain. Working their options well, with Conor O’Daly flighting kicks in behind the home back 3, Cornish kept the pressure on the home side for fully 20 minutes as any clearing kicks by the league leaders were returned with interest by Harlock, until Anstey won a penalty just inside the home half, which Luke Spells slotted to give his side the lead. This was leveled by Sutton 4 minutes later as the exiles were pinged for not rolling away, and within 5 minutes Jacob was very badly injured in a ruck, what looks like an AC joint injury requiring an immediate replacement. However, with all the usual possible temporary scrum half replacements such as Heymann and Will Carew-Gibbs absent and Head Coach Tom Sincock away for the weekend, there was no obvious replacement in the squad. With a “Well I’ve never played there before, but I’ll give it a go!”, on came Nick Stanley. Working the short side well, it was Duda who nearly made the breakthrough on 32 minutes, arrowing his run from deep inside his own half to just outside the home 22 only for the ball to be knocked on and Sutton able to clear. A developing feature of the match was the way in which the home back row were coping with the visitors snipes around the base of the scrum, Osei-Tutu taking one fearful battering from one pick and go. Remarkably, Stanley warmed to his task well when the ball required close quarter action, and it was he who stole a few crucial yards from a rolling maul claimed by Calvert on 38 minutes, driving to with a few feet of the try line before hooker George Johnson took it on and Calvert, beginning to find the form that made him a Surrey County cap the season before last, arrived at Stanley’s shoulder at pace to smash his way over just to the right of the posts, Spells adding the extras and the visitors turning round 10-3 to the good.

Cornish had done their homework on their hosts, and knew that the Sutton skipper is an outstanding player. The instruction was given to tackle the fellow low because once he gets up a head of steam, you have little chance of tackling him high. Unfortunately, these directions were forgotten at the break, the player launching a withering run from just inside the visitors half, fending off 4 tackles to clear away and dive over to the left of the posts for a converted try to level the scores just 90 seconds into the second half. However, the response from the exiles was superb, a series of penalties driving play to within 5 metres of the Sutton line wide left. Hammering away, with Andrew Dinwiddie, Johnson, Calvert and fellow lock Ben Ievers all involved, Cornish forced their way to the line repeatedly but were repelled by foul means and fair as the lighter weight home pack tried everything to hold the visitors at bay. Finally, on 52 minutes Cornish worked a rolling maul up to and over the line at pace, Mike Bond the man to claim the score, though the conversion attempt struck the upright and fell the wrong side. Working the ball to Harlock at the restart, the exiles were quickly back on the attack, wing Phil Francis powering into the Sutton half. Back in the same corner in which they had just scored their try, Cornish used the same tactics again, a dominant scrum providing the platform for Osei-Tutu to drive close to the home line only for the league leaders to concede a penalty again. Setting the maul off the back of a fine Johnson lineout throw to Ievers at 4, Cornish ran the rolling maul over the line again, but such was the speed the maul hit the deck, Johnson’s ‘try’ was ruled knocked on as the ball had smashed down over the line then forward. Pinching the scrum against the head, Cornish were pinged for crossing to come away with nothing from a 10+ minute spell of pressure. This proved to be a critical passage of play, for within 4 minutes the home side had retaken the lead, their Skipper able to crash over the line following a series of pick and go’s for his second converted try to make the score 17-15 to Sutton. 5 minutes later they had turned the game on it’s head, their increasingly influential 9 sniping close to the posts and the ball worked to the effervescent Sutton Skip to dive over for his hat trick, this one not converted. Now the home side were truly dominant, and where Cornish had not converted pressure into points, the league leaders surely did, a penalty awarded for not rolling away bang in front converted to take the score out of bonus point territory. With Oli Low and Cornishman Charlie Wapshott both on to try and bring some extra ballast to the cause, Cornish tried to stem the tide, but where before they were able to keep hold of the ball, now they were hindered by an understandable lack of fluency around the base of rucks and mauls. Now the only question remaining was whether the hosts could claim the try bonus point, and they remained patient in their attacks until the final minute, when their 10 chipped a kick over the whitewash for the right wing to dive on for an unconverted try, the final whistle sounding shortly afterward.

It was to both sides great credit that this game went ahead, and Sutton & Epsom will be delighted to have secured the maximum points. The pleasing aspect of this match for their coaching team will have been the way in which they worked out how to win the game having seemed in real trouble well into the second half. They are a decent side and will be in the shake up at prize giving time.

Cornish slip to 10th in London 2 South-West, and the table doesn’t lie. They will take some consolation from the fact that they have now played all of the top 6 away from home, and the week off should enable a few more players to return to the fray, including Rich McKeown, top points scorer in the last few seasons, who can play at 9 or 10 and who has missed the entire season to date. This was not a bad performance and with a little more ammo outside the pack, a repeat performance would soon see them moving back up the league.