A 4 try burst in the 2nd half saw London Cornish recover from an 8-0 half-time deficit in Hampshire on Saturday to record their 6th straight bonus point win in London 2 South-West, and 8th in the last 9 games. In contrast, hosts Trojans, who dominated large periods of this match and merited more than nothing from the game, sunk to their 10th defeat in the last 11 games, the result leaving them a perilous point above the drop zone.

On an unseasonably warm March afternoon in bright sunlight, Cornish played up the slope and into a freshening breeze in the opening period, the team showing a few changes from the previous week, 5 locks either injured or unavailable giving Phil Johnson another start alongside Dave Hill. In the backs, Dave Soar returned at 10 in place of the unavailable Joe Skinnard.

Trojans problems this season were apparent from the outset of this match, for whenever the exiles had any sort of concerted possession, Trojans players were left strewn all over the pitch with a variety of knocks, and whenever Trojans had possession they could make an initial incision but repeatedly couldn’t build the necessary sequence of phases to make a full breakthrough. They pinned the visitors back in their 22 for most of the opening 10 minutes and Cornish were grateful for strong defence and a high tackle count by Simon Brading, Mark Osei-Tutu and Craig Chatley in particular. Ironically, just when it seemed they had stemmed the tide, Cornish were pinged for an early engage at a scrum in their 22 and a quick tap and an offload saw at Trojans forward plunge just to the left of the posts, the conversion attempt smacked wide left. It took a lacklustre Cornish fully 15 minutes to find their way into the home 22, and this followed a fine Rich Skinnard kick and chase. Despite 2 strong bursts from Chatley driving through the T’s d and fine countering from Matt Hakes when the ball was kicked long, the home side weathered the storm, though they were forced to replace their 8 who withdrew with a hamstring injury at this point. The Hampshire side were able to add to their lead on 23 minutes with a well struck penalty from range after the exiles were pinged for holding on the 10 metre line. Gradually, Cornish gained territory, though the wind was now getting up and clearing kicks making no distance. On 27 minutes Osei-Tutu drove from the base of a scrum on his own 22 and powered through tackles before linking with Luke Spells and then regathering to win a penalty well inside the home half, though the kick drifted wide. On each occasions the visitors made it into the home half from this point, they were hampered by an understandably misfiring lineout or an untidy link between 8, 9 and 10. This frequently gave possession back to Trojans, and on 2 occasions the exiles were grateful for superb scrambling defence by full back Rich Skinnard, snuffing out the danger before it could develop further. Once they had worked out how to kick into the wind, the Cornish backs began to use the ball more wisely, both Soar and Spells weaving low grubber kicks into the Ts half to ease the pressure. On 37 minutes Trojans were attacking down the left flank when an offload was intercepted on his own 22 by the exiles right wing Robin Heymann. The speedster beat 3 defenders in front of the small stand with a mix of sheer speed and elusive side stepping until he was finally caught just a few feet from the Trojans try line. None of his team mates was able to keep pace however, and the wing was pinged for holding as Ts defence held firm, another home replacement on at this point. With their final attack of the half, Trojans made a break only for Skinnard to rip the ball clear from the carrier, something of a microcosm of the match to that point.

Trojans had played well with the wind at their backs, but had only scored 8 points against a Cornish side who had not really demonstrated why they are a top 4 outfit in the opening 40. The half-time message was delivered calmly but sternly to the exiles squad and they responded within 60 seconds of the restart. Winning a penalty for boring in at a scrum, Cornish elected to kick to 10 out down the left flank. Hill claimed the lineout and the pack simply walked the hosts all the way over their line for Mike Bond to claim his second try in as many weeks. Though the kick was missed, the alarm bells were already sounding for Trojans. With their clearance kicks not making any distance now, it was only 5 minutes later that the home side were back on the defensive. Phil Dale worked the ball to Soar down the short side just inside the Ts half, and the fly launched a beautifully weighted kick just over the retreating Ts left wing, who could only look on in horror as it bounced at an oblique angle back over his head and into the arms of the onrushing Osei-Tutu, who simply cantered over to score his 14th try of the season to the right of the posts. More Trojans players required treatment at this point, the poor home physio just about the most overworked person at the game! It didn’t take long for Cornish to take complete control of the match, Ts losing control of a ruck on 57 as Tim Homan, Bond and Brading countered inside the home half. Homan picked up and drove to the 22 before Dale sent Johnson galloping through a gap until he was felled 5 out, the retreating Trojans defence unable to stop Dale feeding Soar to crash across the line for a try improved by Spells. From 8-0 down to 17-8 up in 17 minutes, the game had been turned on its head, never a clearer demonstration of the contrast between a side used to winning and a side used to losing. However, the one criticism that can be leveled at the exiles side during this great run has been that when playing the sides lower in the division, the team has appeared to switch off when in control, and they were very nearly the architects of their own downfall again here. On the hour mark an exiles forward was binned for act of petulance at a ruck, and Ts kicker saw his penalty attempt slam into an upright for the ball to be touched down for a drop out. Returning the restart with interest, Ts worked room wide right for their wing to score, though the extras were not added. Cornish withdrew Osei-Tutu for Jamie McDonald at this point, Brading moving to 8. Within 3 minutes the rejuvenated home side worked a set play on half way for the same wing to burst clear only for his fellow wing to be run down by yet another fine Skinnard tackle as he made for the line, the ball knocked on at the next phase. Trojans continued to threaten but first Soar and then Chatley launched huge clearances on the breeze at their backs. On came Will Carew-Gibbs for Homan, his influence in the tight instantly providing some calm at scrum time, him having played over 100 times in the league for the 1s. Having again weathered a Trojans storm, Cornish regained the initiative for the remaining minutes of the match, a Spells break on 72 only ended by a poor last pass. On 74 Carew-Gibbs held up a Ts player inside the home half in a central position to win a scrum. Brading flicked the ball from the scrum to Dale, who worked room to hit Skinnard on a superb line to burst through the Trojans defence and sprint clear of the cover to score the bonus point try and his 15th in the 13 league games he has played since joining, Spells again adding the conversion to lift the score to 24-13. This was the last action for the Saltash flyer and he was replaced by Tom Dorse, returning to action following the head wound he had suffered at Reigatians. Cornish lost another player to the bin with 3 left when a back was judged to have taken a player in the air. With time running out, Soar launched a snap drop goal attempt narrowly wide from some way out after Dorse had smashed his way into the action, and when Ts attempted a quick restart it was Hill who spotted the danger to force the knock on, the final whistle sounding shortly afterward.

The neutral watching this match would not have guessed that Trojans are fighting a relegation battle. They dominated possession for long periods and demonstrated they have real ability within their ranks. It is a mystery how they can have claimed so few wins based on this performance. However, their predicament is a serious one now, with one of them, Portsmouth or Effingham set for the drop. The problem for the Eastleigh based outfit is that they are not winning their home games, and have won only 6 of their last 46 league games over the last 2 seasons. They have both the top and bottom sides still to play, but one win may not be enough.

All winning sequences will contain matches where the team has dogged out the points without hitting the heights, and this was one of those games for Cornish. Clinical enough to land the bonus points by nailing their opportunities, they have also weathered a series of matches where their resources at lock have been stretched to the max, but their options return for the remaining league games and this will definitely help as this group of players at London Cornish continue to extend historical boundaries.