LONDON 3 SOUTH-WEST
01/12/07
PURLEY JOHN FISHER v LONDON CORNISH

Purely John Fisher 29 - London Cornish 12

London Cornish fell to their first defeat in 6 games when a nightmare 25 minute spell in the first half cost them the game at promotion chasing Purley John Fisher on Saturday. The home side won the game by 2 goals and 3 tries to a goal and a try to cement their position as play-off hopefuls behind unbeaten Cobham.

Cornish were forced into a couple of changes from their previous weeks team, Ben Wheeler continuing at hooker in place of the recuperating Will Carew-Gibbs, Dave Hill, son of former LCRFC stalwart Frank Hill, being given his debut in place of the absent Pete Calvert, having signed from National 3 North Morley for whom he had made his 1s debut at the end of last season, and Mike Harvey coming back in on the wing in place of the injured Matt Strover. The bench saw Ben Shribman and Mike Allewell recalled, both having recovered from injuries that had kept them out for the previous few weeks. For the first time in months, the Cornish starting front 5 had never actually scrummaged together, and this lack of practice proved an achilles heal well exploited by the strong home pack.

The game began in overcast conditions with a very strong wind swirling across it. Despite the incessant rain of the previous 24 hours, the pitch was in decent condition and Cornish played up the hill in this opening period, the wind marginally in the exiles favour. Cornish started in terrific fashion, putting pace on the game. On 4 minutes a PJF 22 drop out was misjudged by their pack and landed in the arms of visiting right wing George Bramble. He dashed through the advancing home pack and caught the cover defence completely wrong footed to sprint clear and score way out on the right flank. On approaching the conversion, Dan Pollard saw the ball topple off the tee. He coolly scooped it up and drop kicked a stupendous conversion across the wind and between the uprights to extend the lead to 7-0. For the next 5 minutes Cornish dominated possession and territory, Pollard bouyed by his earlier success twice going close with drop kick attempts. However, on 12 minutes Cornish lost influential prop Andy Renner to an injury that had troubled him all week, Allewell coming on at hooker and Wheeler switching to prop. From this point on until half time, Cornish conceded an extraordinary 17 penalties as they fell foul of the referee for a succession of different offences. On 15 minutes PJF worked an overlap wide right to send a back in at the corner, the conversion attempt going well wide. A few minutes later, two penalties having forced Cornish deep inside their own 22, the PJF no 8 pounced from the back of a twisting scrum to score in a similar position, the conversion again missed. Unable to get their hands on the ball and frequently turned round by angled kicks by the PJF 10, Cornish conceded a further two tries, one to a rolling maul after having defended a series of other attempts to do the same, another when a quick tap caught Cornish napping down the left flank. Only one of these was converted but from starting the game in such fine fashion, Cornish were suddenly 22-7 down. Players had fallen off tackles, were not listening to the referee and were making bad decisions with what little ball they did have. Just prior to half time, centre Henry Mitchell took a short drop out and sent the ball from left to right through fellow centre Graham Dodge to Bramble, who enjoyed a fine game throughout. He scorched past his opposite number and was only brought down deep inside the home 22 by a superb tackle from a covering back row who had dropped deep to cover the initial drop out. On the few occasions Cornish had managed to build phases of play, they had demonstrated an ability to break through a PJF side who rarely ventured beyond 10 man rugby in the opening period, though in truth this was probably driven by the conditions. The half time whistle went on a disappointing score for Cornish, 15 points in arrears.

The early score in the second period was always likely to be crucial. The visitors immediately conceded another penalty, were forced to the corner and, having defended the rolling maul successfully, saw a missed tackle allow the home backs to work a slice move that their winger finished by reaching out and planting the ball on the line, the kicker taking the lead out to 29-7. The exiles made an early change bringing Adam McVicar on for scrum half Mike Dardis, and gradually the visitors began to gain ascendancy in the possession stats. Now the penalties were going the other way and as PJF appeared to tire, it was now the visitors who drove their hosts deeper and deeper. Hill started pinching home ball at the lineouts and the back row of Will Ho, Rod Petre and Chris Milne forced turnovers allowing Skipper Rob Aird and Allewell to make some hard earned yards. On two occasions on 53 and 61 minutes Cornish worked an overlap, but as soo often happens when a side is chasing a game, the ball was spilled with the try line begging. Full back Jim Strover became more involved as clearing kicks did not find touch but PJF are not promotion candidates for nothing, and their defence in this period was excellent. The exiles made their final change on 54 minutes, bringing Shribman on for James Turnbull at prop. With the penalty count climbing fast against them, PJF failed to stop a magnificent Cornish rolling maul make fully 50 yards to the home 22, where it was cynically dropped by a PJF forward. The referee trained his beady eye on the culprit at the bottom of what was now a ruck, and consigned him to a 10 minute holiday. He must have come perilously close to reducing PJF further for on two more occasions they offended in the shadow of the posts, but their domination at scrum time allowed them to win some set piece ball and force Cornish back. On 68 minutes and while still reduced to 14 men, PJF conceded three penalties that drive them back inside their 22. Shribman was quickest to react at the last, taking a quick tap and driving through tacklers and over the whitewash to score to the right of the posts. Pollard drove the conversion attempt into the teeth of the very strong wind but it struck the upright and came down on the wrong side, the score now 29-12. In the closing minutes Cornish continued to take the game to PJF, some of whose players were now going down with cramp. Wing Mike Harvey nearly skipped through late on but was brought down yards from the line, the blue line holding firm to prevent any further score. Two tired sides greeted the final whistle, the score 29-12 to the home side.

PJF secured a level transfer to London 3 S/W after having twice been beaten play-off finalists when in London 3 S/E. They may well be playing for a play-off spot again on current standings, but they are a difficult side to break down and are particularly strong at their Parsons Pightle HQ. One minor gripe though; please can someone put some lights in the visiting changing room because none were working on Saturday?! This was a setback to Cornish after their recent form, but the club are aiming to consolidate in the division this season and need to learn from defeats such as this. It is good to report that Tom Thirlwall, 1s Skipper for the previous 3 seasons, and Tom Fegen, multiple points scoring back, both made successful playing returns in a second team runout at the weekend having missed the entire season thus far. The squad continues to grow and develop, the exceptional numbers at training giving good cause for continued optimism.

LCRFC – Jim Strover, George Bramble, Graham Dodge, Henry Mitchell, Mike Harvey, Dan Pollard, Mike Dardis (Adam McVicar), Chris Milne, Rod Petre, Will Ho, Rob Aird (Capt.), Dave Hill, James Turnbull (Ben Shribman),Ben Wheeler, Andy Renner (Mike Allewell).


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