Despite a strong and committed performance, a lightweight London Cornish side was ultimately no match for a powerful and organised London Welsh side determined to make the most of one of the 3 automatic promotion spots available from London 1 South this season. The visitors matched their ambitious hosts for much of the opening period but were swept aside in a one sided second half. Once more there was collateral damage during the match with another player consigned to A&E with a badly broken nose that will likely require surgery.
Cornish arrived at the hallowed turf of Old Deer Park having added new lock Luke Waller to their list of injuries, him having broken his foot at training to compound the loss of fellow lock Dave Chalkley, who broke his arm against Ironsides. A front row of 3 brave hookers and 2 back row putting up their hands to play in the 2nd row really tells the story of these opening few games for Cornish, though it may turn out that they have once more faced two of the top few sides in their opening 3 games as they did in 2019-20 when subsequently promoted Havant and Westcombe Park were amongst their first matches. Welsh for their part fielded a few of the CS Rugby title winning side of a few seasons back, including 3 of their former props in the squad and they have recruited plenty of players with experience of having played at higher levels in a side that bore little resemblance to the one that played at the lower level 2 seasons ago.
An attendance of over 800 (which was more than all of those in matches in both Nat 2 divisions on the day and more than attended the Championship match at London Scottish a short distance away) was well watered on a beautiful autumnal day, the match being played on a surface almost as decent as the 1s pitch at the REMPF. A perfectly observed minutes silence was held for all those folk from both sides who were now watching the match from above.
Cornish played towards the Richmond end in the opening period and the tone was set from the off when Welsh eschewed a kickable penalty to instead kick for the corner down the left hand flank. For the first of many times on the day, Cornish withstood the maul, holding their heftier opponents up over the line for a drop out. On 4 minutes the home side lost one of their props to a hammo injury but back they came, rolling another maul but this one too was repelled, Cornish winning the put in and Andy Munro-Lott, happily restored to the black & gold for the first time this season, put boot to ball to clear. On 10 minutes and with much of play concentrated in that same corner, Cornish again stopped a maul and forced Welsh to go wide. This time their blind side wing hit the line at an oblique angle to scythe through the visiting d and cross for a converted try. Back came Welsh battering their way into the 22 on 15 minutes, only for stand-in Skipper Will Carew-Gibbs to win a penalty for holding on the floor in a manner seasoned watchers of Cornish over the last decade plus will recall with a smile. Gradually, after having weathered the storm for the opening quarter, Cornish began to gain field position. On 22 minutes Adam Wheeler and Nick Goss combined to take play to the Welsh 22, where the home side were pinged for not rolling away, Dan Phoenix landing his sides first points. Conceding penalties at a steady rate, the visitors conceded another converted try from close in on 24 minutes and at this point there seemed little Cornish could do to stem the tide. However, shortly after the restart the home 10 was quickly closed down in his 22 as he kicked, wing Lee Humphreys charging the ball down and having the presence of mind to stay on his feet, nip round the Welsh back, regather and dive over for an opportunistic score, improved by Phoenix. The score seemed to unsettle Welsh and galvanised the terrier like Cornish defence. After a period of kick tennis, a home ruck on half way on 35 minutes saw the ball squirt out the blind side, from where it was pouched by the returning Matt Hakes, him taking off down the flank and only downed deep in the Welsh 22, but the visitors were pinged at the ruck and the chance was gone. A further period of kick tennis was ended when a Fin Robjohn howitzer pushed play back into the home half and a Humphreys tackle forced a knock on and a scrum to the visitors. As the ball was worked blind, it was spilt and a fly hack took the ball a few feet from the Cornish line. Though Welsh were first to the ball a remarkable piece of jackalling by Humphreys retrieved the situation and the ball was cleared. With time almost up on the half, a final penalty was conceded by Cornish and this time they had no answer as the hosts rumbled the ball over the line for a converted try, them turning round 21-10 to the good.
Cornish had to start the 2nd period well to have any chance of remaining in contention, but they suffered another whithering blow when Niko Mirosevic-Sorgo, whose physical work around the fringes had much to do with the damage limitation in the opening half, carried a ball into contact and somehow had his nose flattened against his face, him requiring immediate hospitalisation and a further referral to a maxillofacial surgeon this week. This caused a wholesale rejig in the pack though shortly afterwards Cornish had the chance to add to their points following a high tackle on Ciaran Slater, though the kick drifted wide. Conor Pearce and Wheeler continued to produce at lineout time to give their side some ball though the Welsh lineout was unerring through the entire match. What followed was tough to report simply because your correspondent had to take the flag, whilst trying to keep the twitter feed up to date and write notes for the match report! The bonus point try followed on 47 minutes, not improved and another 3 minutes later also limited by a failed conversion, this latter score seeing Oli Low on for the battered Ben Lines, the centre having played the entire match in the back row and not looking out of place there either. As Cornish tired so the floodgates began to open up, a converted try added on 53 minutes and another 6 minutes later, the lead suddenly out to 45-10. Having been marmalised on occasion in the first half in the tight, now Cornish began shoving their hosts who appeared to have lost both their starting props to injury. However, it was in the loose that the tackle count was beginning to tell. When another max score was landed on 64, Mo Alothman came off for Sam Fieldwick. On a rare foray into enemy territory on 66 Cornish managed to kick the ball dead when well placed. Humphreys produced another timely turnover on 69 minutes for Robjohn to clear, though this passage of play saw Rodda also come off with an knock now, Alothman back on. With time running out Cornish were twice more pinged and paid on both occasions, the nippy Welsh right wing the beneficiary on one occasion and one of the home forwards the recipient for the other. The final score of 64-10 was fair on the balance of play and perhaps less than some had suspected when they had seen the lightweight pack Cornish had had to field for this match.
This was a match played in a great spirit between 2 clubs on differing upward trajectories; Cornish are getting there dreckly whilst Welsh want to be there tomorrow! It is to be hoped that the return will at least see the size differential significantly closed and for Cornish, this might mean the scoreline too! The lads showed great spirit throughout and, having had their fill post match, demonstrated that club spirit is still in good supply by tracking down their 2s counterparts in Clapham later that evening.
The post match was everything that all of us in love with the game have missed so much in the hiatus brought on by the pandemic. Players and supporters from both clubs mingled well into the watery sunlit autumnal evening in front of the clubhouse, and the massed ranks of the Cornish support (ahem) clad in their Black & Gold blazers regaled those still present with a smattering of songs from Trelawny to Camborne Hill via Lil Lize and Grandfather’s Clock. 20,000 Cornishmen will know the reason why…