LONDON 3 SOUTH-WEST
03/11/07
LONDON CORNISH v ANDOVER

London Cornish 33 - Andover 3

The Cornish resurgence continued in style at the Richardson Evans Memorial Playing Fields on Saturday when the exiles produced their best performance of the season so far to comprehensively outplay Andover, a side narrowly relegated from London 2 South last season who had come into the fixture in good form. The win was achieved by 2 goals, 2 tries, and 3 penalties to 1 penalty in a game Cornish could well have won my a more significant margin.

With the injury list gradually subsiding, Cornish only made 2 changes from the side successful in the league the previous week, Ben Shribman coming into the row in place of the injured Jay Stirrett and Chris Milne making his full League debut in place of the unavailable Will Ho. There was also a place on the bench for the talismanic former Portuguese international Manuel De Mello, who will be eased back into things over the next couple of months. In perfect conditions on arguably the best surface in the division, the portents for a decent game of rugby were present. Andover have some big units in their pack and from the off mixed up inside passes from their 10 with pick and drives around the base of the ruck and maul. Though they had an initial period of pressure it was Cornish who settled the better, twice winning kickable penalties on 12 and 17 minutes both of which slid across the face of the posts. However, though the lineouts were evenly matched and though it took 9 minutes before there was a scrum, the exiles pack were exerting great pressure on the visiting scrum, forcing their combative 8 to clear up a fair amount of ball. Eventually, the pressure told and Cornish won another penalty on 24 minutes, fly half Dan Pollard making no mistake to give his side the lead. What followed will be talked about for a while by those watching. The restart was fielded by prop Andy Renner, who broke the first tackle on the Cornish 22 and drove upfield. He offloaded to Milne appearing at pace on his shoulder who sprinted between two backtracking defenders over halfway and then passed outside to Skipper Mike Allewell. Allewell drew his man and popped the ball outside again to lock Pete Calvert in support. He drew the full back before passing to wing Mike Harvey who took on his man on the outside and seared clear to score out wide. A team score of the highest quality for an increasingly confident home side, playing as they were in their new change strip of gold with narrow black hoops. The difficult conversion slid narrowly wide but Cornish had now attained an 8-0 lead. A feature of this improved Cornish showing has been the form of scrum half Mike Dardis, and it was he who fashioned the next Cornish score on 31 minutes when, again under pressure from the Cornish tight 5 at a scrum, the ball squirted out the back door of a wheeling, retreating Andover pack. Dardis was first to react, pouncing on the ball down the narrow side and sprinting away between covering defenders before slipping a pass outside to open side Rod Petre to dive over the whitewash out wide. The conversion attempt slammed into the upright so though the home side had dominated the opening half hour, they were only 13-0 up. Andover finally worked some field position right on the half time whistle, winning a penalty for offside within kicking range. Their 10, whose huge boot had helped them clear their lines under pressure on a number of occasions in the opening period, drove his kick between the sticks to give his team some encouragment at the break, the score 13-3 to the exiles.

The opening score of the second period was always going to be important, and after wing Jim Strover cut a fine line through the Hampshire sides backs, a penalty was awarded for an Andover forward going off his feet at the ruck. Pollard, having missed a number of far easier kicks in the opening period, now found his range from way out on the left flank to ease his side out to a 16-3 lead after 44 minutes. Though the visitors did gain first phase ball, they could gain no penetration through their backs and were often forced into chasing their kicks to try and get into Cornish territory. These kicks were returned with interest and on 52 minutes, the exiles scored again. Playing a multiphase, fast, attacking brand of rugby Cornish worked the ball from left to right across the pitch from halfway. Harvey drove infield inside the Andover 22 and when the ball was recycled a pop pass put Renner in some space. The powerful American smashed through the cover defence and drove over the line near the posts carrying a couple of defenders with him. Pollard converted and the lead was extended to 23-3. Now hooker Will Carew-Gibbs started winning balls against the head reducing the first phase ball available to Andover even further. Twice Cornish went close to adding to their score in the next 10 minutes, once when centre Graham Dodge intercepted a pass on the left flank only to sprint clear and be tap tackled within sniffing distance of the tryline, and the other occasion when Harvey and Dardis combined down the right only for the ball to be smuggled clear by desperate visiting defence. Cornish now brought on De Mello for Shribman in the row and Adam McVicar for the excellent Dardis at 9. On 64 minutes centre Henry Mitchell drove up into midfield for the visitors to again be caught offside at the ruck. Pollard exacted full retribution with the penalty, the lead now 26-3. This all proved too much for the visiting 8, who blotted an otherwise decent afternoons work by getting himself sin binned for a few too many comments. Cornish drove the penalty to the corner and from the lineout drove over the line, Carew-Gibbs certain he scored only for the otherwise excellent referee to deem the ball held up. A loose pass later and the danger was cleared. Pete Drewett now came on for Petre, who had again shown what a dangerous broken field runner he can be with an alarming turn of pace for a 7! Back came the home side again, Strover again working the narrow side with good support from prop Ben Wheeler. The ball was worked from left to right deep inside the visiting 22 only for Dodge now to be deemed held up over the line in the shadow of the posts. Andover can take a huge amount from their defence in this period, no one shirking tackles and their organisation staying strong. Finally, on 79 minutes, Pollard worked a miss move that saw Harvey appear at pace from the opposite wing and he switched with full back George Bramble on an in-out line, brushing off the last tackle to dive over way out on the left flank. Pollard made it 4 from 4 in the second half with his pinpoint conversion and Cornish had their first back to back wins in London 3 South-West in their first ever foray into this level!

Andover are a big side who are seeking to consolidate after their relegation last season. They never gained a real foothold in this match and will rue the fact that they are playing Cornish at a time in the year when the club traditionally steps up a few gears. They were a decent bunch back at the Telegraph after the game and we wish them well prior to our rematch on the other side of the New Year. By common consent, this was as complete and exciting a performance as any from Cornish in the last few seasons of winning rugby. The team will know that they need to me more clinical to win matches against sides in the top half of the table, but giant strides are being made and with all 4 teams winning on Saturday, the near future at Cornish continues to be very bright.

LCRFC – George Bramble, Jim Strover, Graham Dodge, Henry Mitchell, Mike Harvey, Dan Pollard, Mike Dardis (Adam McVicar), Chris Milne, Rod Petre (Pete Drewett), Mike Allewell (Capt.), Ben Shribman (Manuel De Mello), Pete Calvert, Ben Wheeler, Will Carew-Gibbs, Andy Renner.


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