The portents for this match between long standing local rivals London Cornish and KCS Old Boys in London 1 South were not positive given the form of the respective sides. Throw into the mix torrential rain falling throughout the warmup and the opening period, both sides suffering injury problems and the exiles depleted further by a stag weekend making 8 of the previous weeks starters unavailable, and there was every chance this could be a tough watch – so it proved with the visitors landing the spoils in a laboured affair with little of real note on which to report.
Cornish opened playing into the elements on the pitch up by the A3, parts of which resembled a quagmire by the end. With driving rain and wind in their faces, it was tough to gain any kind of foothold in the match, though KCS might have made a more judicious use of the elements in this opening period, kicking too loosely at times. It took 20 minutes for either side to fashion an attack of real note as the visitors penned the exiles in their 22, but the effort was ended by Alex Davey jackaling in the shadow of the posts. One aspect of the match that kept the exiles in it was in the tight, Skip Dave Theobald forming a solid 3 with hooker Tony Pellow and loose head Ciaran Slater, and ensuring Kings rarely had go comfortable ball on their put in. Stubborn defence kept the visitors at bay until, on 30 minutes, Cornish broke out with a rumbustious run by Robbie Mackay supported by George Shirlaw and Chris Hayes, both of whom enjoyed decent days. The result was that they won a penalty well outside the oppo 22 but in a central position. Amazingly, Fin Robjohn managed to launch the kick between the posts to give his side the lead with virtually their only foray of note so far. This seemed to galvanise Kings who launched a furious assault on the exiles 22 in the remaining minutes of the half, but this too foundered on solid d as Shirlaw pinched the ball on the floor and Robjohn cleared his lines to signal the whistle for the break.
Turning round 3-0 to the good having played into the elements in the opening half might have seen Cornish in great shape to kick on after the break, but to their bewilderment out popped the sun and down dropped the wind as the two sides huddled. This seemed to affect both sides for it was a rejuvenated KCS who began the 2nd half, winning 2 penalties to gain field position on 45 minutes and then seeing one of their number squirm over from short range for an unconverted try. On 52 minutes Cornish withdrew Slater and brought on Mark O’Leary, who has temporarily returned from his retirement to aid the Cornish cause. His impact was instantaneous as he is some scrummager, and now KCS were driven off their own ball at a rate of knots. However, whenever Cornish made ground they somehow conceded penalties at a rate that seemed to accelerate as the match went on. Though Luke Waller (making his full debut) was a decent lineout option and increasingly influential ball carrier, too often the exiles were pulled up by a series of technical offences. This profligacy was brought home to roost just after the hour mark when Cornish lost a man to the bin, then Kings scored a try that was a mirror image of their first, though on the other side of the posts, this one also unconverted but in a tight game a 10-3 lead was gold dust. However, with the pitch still wet the wind conditions picked up again in the home sides favour, and now Robjohn and George Jackson used the conditions to pen Kings in their 22. After Mo Alothman had combined with Mike Edworthy on 71 minutes to take play to 5 out, Cornish won a penalty and elected for a scrum. 3 times the 7 man exiles pack drove the visitors back towards the line and saw the scrum go down or sideways until eventually the referee lost patience and binned one of the visitors front row. When the fourth scrum also wheeled, the home side, believing they had an advantage, flung a pass out wide where it was knocked on only to see the advantage given as over! A delighted visitors team managed to play out the remaining minutes of the match with no alarms and greeted the final whistle with no small amount of joy, bringing to an end their long losing run.
These matches are always fairly contested as plenty of the lads know each other well and Kings deserved their win for keeping their discipline and taking the 2 try scoring chances that came their way. Here’s hoping we see them again next season in the new version of the league and perhaps in more pleasant conditions. Good luck to them in the closing weeks of the season, decent post match as ever.
Whoever dons the Cornish shirt really needs to buy in to the mantra to keep their discipline as it seems an all too familiar refrain most weeks that lack of discipline is an issue. Coupled with a little more patience, improved discipline could see these narrow defeats turned into wins. A week off now and a chance to allow bodies to recover ahead of the visit of St Ives for the Arthur Hunt Memorial Plate on St Piran’s Day. Lets hope the pitches recover too...