An historic day for London Cornish at Effingham & Leatherhead’s Browns Lane HQ, saw the exiles secure their fourth consecutive Level 7 league win for the first time ever, all of the wins having also been secured with the bonus point. Including the Cup, Cornish are now on a run of 5 straight wins, four of which have been away. The majority have been ‘come from behind wins’ with tremendous second halves the key feature, and this match was no different, the win securing Cornish in 4th place in London 2 South-West.

Cornish have quietly and efficiently recruited well in the close season, and when Rob Healey made his debut from the bench, he was the 36th player the exiles have used in the 8 league games to date. This huge squad is building real strength in depth, and this was evident on a day when ever-present lock Harry Somers was joined on the sidelines by kicker Luke Spells, fellow centre Dave Warwick, and both the starting wings from the previous match Phil Francis and Rich Skinnard.

Heavy rain all morning briefly abated on arrival at the ground, and Cornish were delighted to find that they playing on the lower pitch. The visitors took the lead after a mere 1 minute, a penalty slotted by fly half Tom Carter for offside in midfield. From the off, it was clear that Cornish had a real edge in the set pieces, and lock Ben Ievers was to go on and produce his finest game for Cornish, frequently soaring like an eagle to claim the home sides ball. Though the early play was punctuated by a few knock-ons, Cornish had utter territorial domination, but when first pinged for holding in the right hand corner of the pitch after an Adam Rae attack, and then for a forward pass after a Will Carew-Gibbs offload to Mark Osei-Tutu appeared to put the back row in the clear, saw the visitors temporarily frustrated. Eventually, after hemming the home side in their 22 for the opening 15 minutes, Cornish struck when a rolling maul crept up to and over the line for open side Ciaran Acford to claim his first try in Cornish colours, the try not converted but the exiles deservedly 8-0 ahead. In common with most of their other matches this season, Cornish hen contrived to hand back the initiative to their opposition for a period. First backchat brought a penalty within range of the prodigious Eagles fly, and then the same player punished the exiles for a poor kick chase, winging a fine cut out pass to their wing to dummy his way through and under the posts. 0-8 up had become 10-8 down in a 10 minute spell. Worse was to follow, for as the rain starting to fall again and the home side upped their game, Cornish conceded a drop goal on 27 minutes and a pen harshly for hands in on 30 to find themselves having conceded 16 points in as many minutes from a position of complete control. However, buoyed by the dominance of their front V, the exiles knew that patience would pay because the home pack was being given a thorough working over in the tight. When the home 10 launched a howitzer out on the full, the visitors penned his side in the far right hand corner of the pitch, three times winning penalties in quick succession, which they kicked to the corner. On each occasion, Cornish were pinged, twice for not straight and once for backchat, the last seeing the whistle go for the break shortly after.

Despite the majority of this exiles side being under 25, there are crucially a few experienced heads in the side, lead by Skipper Dave Theobald who lead the half-time chat. With conditions worsening and the light seeming to fade quickly, the second period began in a similar vane to the first, Cornish having territorial dominance but conceding penalties when well placed. With no 8 Simon Brading an increasing influence on the game, and locks Ievers and Luke Bridges starving the home side of quality ball, the scene was set. On 48 minutes a Brading run saw prop Mike Bond and Carew-Gibbs drive the ball on, but just as the visitors reached the try line the ball was dropped. On came Tom Lloyd, Chris Anstey and Healey for Bond, Osei-Tutu and Sam Williams as Cornish aimed to grind their opponents down. Pinned in the right hand corner of the pitch nearest the clubhouse, the home side now conceded a series of penalties. First Cornish tried to drive Eagles over their line at a scrum, but when the referee pinged the home side for a fifth penalty in as many minutes inside their 22, the ball was kicked 5 out. This time Ievers claimed it, and when he set the maul Cornish, bolstered by right wing Robin Heymann, drove their hosts back over the line for Brading to crash over for the try, this too unconverted. Within 2 minutes, the referee harshly pinged the exiles for wheeling at a scrum when only they were trying to scrummage straight, and the home 10 drilled a fine penalty over to increase the lead to 19-13. The tide however, was now firmly with the visitors. On 64 minutes Carter, having hit centre Dave Soar flat to drive over the gainline, sent a cutout pass to Rae arriving at pace out wide. When he chipped ahead, Cornish won a penalty for holding as Anstey and Matt Hakes were quickly on the scene. The ball was kicked to the left hand corner, and the exiles repeated the trick, rolling the maul inexorably over the line for Lloyd to claim his first try in Cornish colours, this conversion like the others well struck but narrowly wide but a home forward finally binned, this the 7th penalty the home side had conceded inside their 22 in the 2nd half alone. Even though ahead, Es were increasingly chasing the game and when Hakes and Soar forced a knock on in midfield at the Es attack in the visitors 22 on 67 minutes, and then the home 15 drove a kick out on the full a minute later, the home support was now drowned out by that of the visitors. 3 minutes later and the worst fears of the home support were realized – their tiring pack simply hadn’t much left to give and when another maul worked into midfield in their 22, first Carew-Gibbs and then Soar combined to take it to 5 out, from where Brading powered over the line with defenders scattered all over the shop to give his side the lead back and claim the bonus point. Carter drove the conversion between the posts and now Cornish were 19-25 up with less than 8 left. Better was to follow, for when Healey launched a fine box kick into the home 22, the full back was scragged and forced to carry over for a scrum V. As Cornish drove the scrum back towards the line, yet again Es were pinged and Theobald sensibly invited Carter to put the game to bed, which he promptly did with the penalty. With time running out, Es won a chance to gain a bonus point when the restart was knocked on and a penalty gained for offside. The home 10 launched another beauty to close the scoring out at 22-28. With one play remaining, Cornish claimed the restart when Ievers pounced on a loose ball, and when Carter slammed the ball into touch the final whistle went to the understandable delight of the exiles players and supporters.

Effingham & Leatherhead continue to provide the most obdurate obstacle to opponents at this level, particularly on their home patch. They clearly have a few injuries and can’t boast the depth of some the other teams in the league, so have struggled at times this season. However, off the pitch they uphold the fine traditions of this league – a fine 2 course meal (choice of 5 cheeses I’ll have you know!), awards drinks and then a novelty boat race saw all in the bar enjoy the post match festivities whatever the respective scores.

Cornish can now put the league to bed for a fortnight, and will make a few changes to the team for the Cup match next week. There is great spirit building across the squad and Cornish demonstrated here that their forwards can score tries too, the backs having scored the vast majority in the last few wins.