On the day when London Cornish finally played a match at home, the first at the Richardson Evans Memorial Playing Fields since December 7th, supporters were treated to a 10 try extravaganza as both the home side and visitors Portsmouth ran the ball from the off in beautiful conditions on a near perfect surface. The exiles finally closed the game out by 2 goals, 5 tries and a penalty to 3 tries and 3 penalties to move level on points with 3rd placed Tottonians in London 2 South-West.

Cornish played away from the clubhouse in the opening period, and were in front on 4 minutes when the visiting 10 made a hash of a crossfield kick inside his 22, instead putting Luke Spells into space to draw the final man and send Matt Hakes away to score wide right, the conversion flying narrowly wide right. 3 of these were given back at the restart, when Cornish conceded a penalty, which the Portsmouth kicker drove between the posts. On 8 minutes Cornish had their second try, great service from Rob Healey enabling fly half Phil Dale to make a break (and supporters at LCRFC should be in mind of former fly half Darren Jordan when thinking of Dale as he is so similar in playing style and size), him linking with Mike Bond before taking a return pass and sending Spells through the d on a great line into the 22, where he could draw the final defender and send Craig Chatley under the posts for a try Spells converted. Once again, the restart saw Cornish concede a pen, this one for a high tackle and once again the Pompey kicker nailed it. Spells sent his side into a 15-6 lead on 18 when the exiles front row elicited a penalty from the visiting pack smack in front of the posts at a scrum. The Cornish back 3 of Rich Skinnard, brother Joe and Hakes were a constant threat from the off in this match, and on 22 it was the former who was shepherded into touch after break blind on the back of a Ben Ievers lineout claim. The warning wasn’t heeded, for 4 minutes later a loose clearance kick reached the former Saltash wing on halfway, and with expectant supporters shouting “Finish!”, the rapid wing did exactly that, beating the kick chase then sprinting down the left flank to step inside the last man and plant the ball down for the try, the conversion again well struck and again just missing. Lock Harry Somers, who needed treatment for a knock to the hand from early on, had to be replaced at this juncture, Phil Johnson a like for like replacement. Having nearly created a try for Mark Osei-Tutu with a break from inside his 22 following a steal on the floor by open side Andrew Eustace, Rich Skinnard was then the recipient of great work by Ievers and Osei-Tutu, who crashed the ball up for Rob Healey to send Chatley away to link with the wing who crashed over for his 13th try in his 11 league games to date. With the bonus point already in the bag at 25-6, the conversion again just missed, but there was enough time in the half for Portsmouth to claim their third penalty after the exiles were pinged for hands in the til.

Cornish made another change at the break, giving in form prop Oli Low more game time in place of Bond. The exiles were first to strike in the 2nd half, Ievers winning a lineout from the decent arrows thrown by full debutant Gregor Morris on the visiting 22, for Dale and Spells to zip cutout passes into the hands of the supremely confident Hakes to lose his man and cross for another try out wide, the conversion attempt once more flying narrowly wide but the exiles now 30-9 up. The home side made their final change, Simon Brading making a long awaited return in place of Phil Jones. Whether lured into a false sense of security by the ease with which they had scored, or because the visitors upped their game, the shape of the game changed. First the exiles lost a man to the bin for persistent offences, and then Pompey used the extra man to work a rolling maul over for an unconverted try on 50. The game now became end to end, and on 54 minutes Joe Skinnard countered down the left flank, stepping to the 22 before Dale hit Brading who sent Hakes over for his hat-trick, not converted. On 68 another high tackle saw Pompey send a kick to 5 out, and repeat the dose rolling a maul over for an unconverted try, reducing the arrears to 35-19. Back on came Bond for Low, but the game descended into a plethora of mediocrity as both sides coughed up possession. On 74 Cornish lost another man to the bin for a spot of mountaineering, and Portsmouth made them pay again, working the ball across their backline for their under utilised left wing to demonstrate decent finishing skills, though this try was also unconverted as both kickers struggles with so many tries being scored out wide. Cornish needed to respond or give up a bonus point to their revitalized opponents and respond they did, Dale twice involved before Chatley worked room to send Hakes over for his 4th try, an ironic cheer going up from the home side when Spells added the extras, though in truth he had struck the ball well all day. The conversion rounded off the scoring on the day with Cornish 42-24 to the good.

Portsmouth are yet another of the many sides involved in the relegation battle in London 2 South-West, and with a few matches still to play against the sides around them, it will be those matches that will determine if they can escape their current predicament as they sit in 11th place. Apologies to them for the shambles at The Telegraph post match – not having been there for 13 weeks seemed to catch the pub out where rugby was concerned.

A 4th consecutive 5 pointer for Cornish and 6th in 7 matches has lifted Cornish level with Tottonians with a game in hand. They weren’t at their best on the day, but with competition for places red hot there can be no complacency from any of the squad on match day.