Despite a fine 1st half performance that prevented league leaders London Welsh from even making it into their 22 for the opening half an hour, London Cornish ultimately succumbed by 33-10 as the visitors well drilled rolling maul ultimately proved the major difference between the 2 teams in a match played in steady rain throughout on a pitch that stood up remarkably well to the conditions.
The match was played on the A3 pitch at the REMPF tucked away around the corner, the former main home pitch for KCS Old Boys prior to their relocation to New Malden in the 90’s. Cornish opened playing away from the foundations of the old clubhouse once again sporting their change gold strip with narrow black bands. Welsh had paid them the compliment of fielding a very strong squad and a decent crowd gathered once they had located the pitch. The early exchanges set the pattern for the opening half as Cornish dominated possession and territory with fly-half and Captain George Kimmins arrowing a series of well angled kicks in behind, turning the Welsh back 3 around and forcing them to counter from deep, where they were met by a well organised chase. On two occasions Cornish broke into the 22 buoyed by strong carries by James La Broy and Adam Wheeler but the Welsh defence was resolute and in their open side they had a class jackler to turn ball over. Welsh launched a series of bombs to try and relieve the pressure, which were superbly handled in the conditions by Cornish full back Mike Edworthy throughout. Unable to mount any kind of attacks, the visitors finally transgressed on 22 minutes for Kimmins to give his side a deserved lead with the kick. Worse was to follow 5 minutes later, for when stand in scrum half Fin Robjohn sniped blind over half-way he was hit by a high tackle, the miscreant consigned to 10 minutes in the bin. Though able to continue to the break, a delayed reaction saw Robjohn withdrawn shortly afterwards. Cornish continued to apply the pressure, carries down the narrow side by La Broy, Ed McCord, Joe Lynch and Dave Chalkley taking play into the Welsh 22 on the half hour mark before the ball was turned over and cleared. Finally and very much against the run of play, Welsh won two penalties, which they kicked to the top right hand corner of the pitch. They set their maul from the lineout and inexorably powered over for a well converted try. In the remaining minutes of the half Cornish again attacked but an errant pass out wide saw the ball lost and the whistle sound for the break, the visitors 7-3 to the good and grateful their hosts had not managed to score more points with all their territorial dominance.
From the off in the 2nd period the league leaders upped the ante, called back for a forward pass when well placed on 42 minutes. A couple of minutes later and a repeat of their earlier success saw another penalty kicked to the corner, another maul and another score, this one unconverted. It is very unusual for the home side to concede tries in this fashion but on this day they were certainly bested. That last passage of play saw Robjohn withdrawn, George Jackson on in his favoured position of 9. On 56 minutes and after a period of aimless kick tennis, Welsh again attempted a maul but this time it was downed and when they recycled, their ball carrier was held up over the line under the posts. They countered from the drop out, chipping in behind then forcing the ball carrier out close to his own line. Lineout won, their maul once again broke the home d to crash across the whitewash for a converted try. With the rain now finally relenting, Cornish moved the ball with more freedom at this point, George Shirlaw (who had once again won a number of turnovers to this point) and Pete Boele, rolled off for Adam Wheeler and Joe Lynch to return after breaks and Sam Matanle bringing his own brand of side stepping line breaks to the fray. Kimmins threaded a great grubber to the visitors 22 on 63 minutes where the Welsh full back knocked on. To their intense frustration however Cornish lost the put in and the danger was cleared. When invited to attack again on 69 minutes, Kimmins hit Phoenix on a great line for a clean line break only to be called back for the most marginal of forward passes. On 71 minutes and again on the attack, Cornish didn’t look after the ball at the base of a ruck and were pinged. A decent kick was followed by another maul and when this one was held up, the home side were pinged in front of the posts for offside. Electing for a scrum, Welsh couldn’t shift their hosts and were stopped short from the pick and go. Pinged at the next breakdown, the home side were helpless to prevent the concession of a fourth try from a rolling maul out wide, this one also converted, the visitors out to a 26-3 lead. From the restart Welsh finally found room out wide despite a fine covering tackle from Chris Wright, fashioning a 3 on 1 to send their 9 over by the posts from some way out, the conversion putting gloss on the score. With time almost up, Cornish gave their supporters something to cheer about when they went blind on halfway from a scrum, Matt Hakes making an initial incision, linking with Edworthy and finally inside to Terry Gillam to spin over for a well crafted try, Kimmins bringing the action to an end with a decent conversion from wide right.
Welsh are clearly ambitious and like all decent sides, found a weakness in their opposition that they relentlessly exploited on the day. They are well supported, bringing a unique challenge both on and off the pitch in terms of the logistics clubs need to deploy to cope with the numbers. The game was played in a fine spirit and both sets of players and supporters alike mixed well into the evening post match aware that they are unlikely to face off in league action again any time soon. We wish our fellow exiles well with their quest.
Cornish will have learnt plenty about where they need to focus improvements when playing sides at the top end of the league. As the referee was quick to point out post match, without the rolling mauls the score was 10-10! However, this masks the fact that Cornish did not score enough points when dominant and gave up the field position that led to those maul tries through the concession of too many penalties. Otherwise, there is more defensive solidity in the 2022 incarnation of the exiles and promise too in the more regular selection available to new Head Coach Paul Spivey. This was week 1 of a 7 week block of matches so there will be more time yet to assess this progress.