LONDON 3 SOUTH-WEST
05/01/08
ANDOVER v LONDON CORNISH

Andover 14 - London Cornish 23

London Cornish produced their 6th win in their last 7 league games to overcome a revitalised and reinforced Andover at the Goodship Ground on Saturday. The win was achieved by a goal, two tries and two penalties to two goals. It is in an interesting fact that if the league had been played over these last 7 games, Cornish would actually be top on points difference, an indication of just how fast the team is adapting to playing at this level for the first time ever.

Cornish were able to field an unchanged pack from the one that played in the last game of 2007, the only changes in the backs being Henry Mitchell returning at inside centre and George Bramble coming back in on the wing. The game began in watery sunlight on a decent surface, the exiles electing to play up the slope in the opening period. In spite of a shorter warm up than normal, the visitors were by far the sharper out of the traps, dominating the opening period. With their opening attack on 3 minutes Cornish drove at the heart of the Andover defence into their 22, the ball quickly being recycled left for Mike Harvey to race over to open the scoring. Though fly half Dan Pollard missed the conversion attempt from the left flank, he was heavily involved in a superb move on 9 minutes that doubled the exiles advantage. Following fine linking play between no 8 Chris Milne, open side Rod Petre and right wing George Bramble, centre Keith Thompson was sent clear to dive over on the right flank, the conversion pulled wide. Andover, clearly having a number of players back from injury and with a few new faces in their team, looked stunned and those supporters arriving late from the bar had missed a crucial period in the match. The home side now used a series of box kicks from their scrum half to try and gain field position, but both full back Tim Mucken and Harvey are adept at fielding these and Mucken in particular returned these with interest, often linking with Milne who enjoyed a fine game throughout. Conceding penalties to Cornish right from the off, the Hampshire side did not help their cause with a constant dialogue both with the referee and each other, a couple of times being marched back 10 yards for backchat. When they did get within striking distance of the Cornish line, they were turned over, profligacy punished by Pollard on 23 minutes when he slotted a penalty from some way out on the left to stretch the lead to 13-0. A period when the lineout malfuntioned allowed Andover some dominance, and on 31 minutes they gained due reward without ever having looked as though they might score, a huge overlap giving one of their backs room to evade a tackle and cross by the posts. The conversion reduced the arrears to 6 and the game was on! Though rusty at the set pieces, the exiles held their own up the slope, the front row of Ben Wheeler, Mike Allewell and Ben Shribman preventing the home side from gaining any easy ball at scrummage time. With time running out on the half, Cornish again won a penalty in a similar spot to the previous one as the referee spotted an offside. Pollard once again struck the ball firmly between the uprights to give his side a 16-7 half time lead.

There is a tendancy to believe the job is done when leading a match at half time where you have played up a slope. It certainly appeared that way in the opening 10 minutes of the second period as Andover came back strongly at Cornish. Now moving the ball wide to their lumpy left wing at every opportunity, the Hants side tested their visitors, but the tactic was repeated too often so though ground was made, the cover snuffed out any lasting damage. Where the home side had used kicks down the pitch to gain field position, Cornish tried to play too much rugby in their own half in this section of the game, a couple of times being caught trying to run out of defence rather than put boot to the ball. Skipper Rob Aird steadied his side, Milne and lock Pete Calvert now being nailed at lineout time by Allewell. On 49 minutes Thompson struck a superb line off Pollard to burst through the Andover defence but as he tried to slip an inside pass to his support the ball was lost and the opportunity with it. Within minutes the home scrum half spotted a gap on halfway and was through it like a whippet. As he arrowed away from the cover he was brought down in the shadow of the posts by a fantastic tackle by Mucken. The ball was quickly recycled and after three phases the Andover left wing was brought in on a slice to crash across the line near the posts, the conversion reducing the deficit to 16-14. Cornish now made a couple of important changes, Portuguese International Manuel De Mello coming on at lock with Aird moving to blindside in place of Nicolas Patte, and prop James Turnbull coming on in place of Shribman. Still directing a stream of vitriol at the referee at every breakdown, the home side were never again able to threaten the Cornish line. On 64 minutes as Cornish drove a maul forward, a couple of haymaking punches made contact with De Mello's face right in front of the referee. Applying the letter of the law, the Andover forward was given a straight red card, his actions totally at odds with the spirit in which the game had been played. Cornish kicked the ball to the corner, and De Mello exacted the perfect revenge as it was he who plunged the ball across the whitewash to score down the left flank from the driving maul. Pollard stepped up to strike an excellent and vital conversion to take his side out to a 23-14 lead. A further change saw Adam McVicar come on in place of scrum half Mike Dardis, the latter having enjoyed a fine game mixing sniping, pacy runs with good service to his half back partner. Reduced a man and already struggling in the tight, the home side now found scrums on their ball a huge hindrance as they were driven downhill at a rate of knots. Forcing the game and now requiring two scores, Andover did have one last chance to reduce the arrears when they won a penalty from a similar position to that from which Pollard had nailed two penalties in the first half. This kick was pulled just wide however, and with it went the Hampshire side's chances of taking anything from the game. Cornish went close to adding to their tally with another drive from a lineout in the dying minutes, but they lost control of the ball as they neared the home line and the danger was cleared. The final whistle went with Cornish 9 points to the good, a fair reflection on the game.

Andover have ambitous plans to develop their ground and have the space in which to achieve them. They have key matches coming up against the sides around them in the league, the relegation battle seeming to have crystallized down to any 2 from 4 at the bottom of London 3 South-West. On this evidence, the Hampshire side will be a far tougher nut to crack than they were in the first half of the season and it will be a battle that may well go down to the wire. Cornish move into the highest league position the club has ever attained in its history with power to add before the season is over. With no additional injuries to add to a list that is clearing fast, the club are determined to continue their drive up the division.

LCRFC – Tim Mucken, George Bramble, Keith Thompson, Henry Mitchell, Mike Harvey, Dan Pollard, Mike Dardis (Adam McVicar), Chris Milne, Rod Petre, Nicolas Patte (Manuel De Mello), Rob Aird (Capt.), Pete Calvert, Ben Shribman (James Turnbull), Mike Allewell, Ben Wheeler.


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