LONDON 3 SOUTH-WEST
08/03/08
EFFINGHAM & LEATHERHEAD v LONDON CORNISH

Effingham & Leatherhead 9 - London Cornish 9

London Cornish secured a decent point at Effingham on Saturday in London 3 South-West, and the young squad will have learnt much from such a turgid encounter against opponents they dominated for long periods of the game. With both sides registering 3 penalties each, it was nevertheless a fascinating match albeit not one for the purist, as both sides struggled with the conditions and with a referee who may need to work on his fitness.

With the skiing and wedding seasons now upon us, it is frustrating that Cornish had to make 7 changes from the squad who produced such a fine performance the previous week, Ben Wheeler, Rob Aird, Mark Williams-Jones, Pete Drewett, Adam McVicar, Keith Thompson and Justin York all coming in to the squad, the latter for his league debut from the bench. Effingham are a crafty outfit, switching the match from their big, wide 1st team pitch to a far narrower and smaller one some distance from the clubhouse. Evidently, this suits their style since they like to keep the ball close to the forwards and use the blind side plenty, a tactic which had caught a much weakened Cornish out in the reverse encounter back in September. The home side had been in decent form recently, having held promotion chasing PJF to a draw away from home a couple of weeks ago. The stats also demonstrated that Effingham neither concede nor score many points, so it was entirely possible this one could be a tight affair. The game began in driving rain, the home side electing to play slightly into the elements in the opening period. As it turned out, those conditions of playing down a slight slope with the strong wind driving the rain from left to right across the home sides faces, were not quite the advantage many watching thought they would be. Cornish were on the board inside 5 minutes when Dan Pollard drove a penalty kick for offside between the uprights from just outside the home 22. This award was given against the home centres who were consistently able to avoid the referee's radar from this point, rushing up as the arbiter spent much time focussed on the technical elements of the forwards battle. Cornish quickly gained an ascendancy in the lineouts thanks to a superb performance from Pete Calvert, who repeatedly drove the home coach to distraction by pinching the Effingham ball. The exiles were guilty of conceding far too many penalties in the opening quarter of the match, nullifying the apparent advantages of the conditions and allowing the decent home 10 to clear his lines. Two such offences on 12 minutes were enough to present Effingham with the chance to level the scores, and an excellent strike by the aforementioned 10 made it 3-3. The response from Cornish was strong, carries by returning Skipper Aird and centre Henry Mitchell well supported by openside Williams-Jones, who punched above his weight throughout the contest. On two occasions Cornish worked an overlap but the final pass to waiting wing Mike Harvey went awry both times. Cornish also demonstrated a capacity to launch rolling mauls that carried some distance, but the home side were adept at not conceding lineouts close enough to their line to let these become a try scoring issue. With the tight fairly evenly contested and the rain making fluent backs play a near non starter, the game was riddled with errors from both sides. Cornish regained the lead on 26 minutes when Pollard again struck a penalty between the posts after an Effingham forward was caught offside at a ruck. Mitchell in particular was causing alarm amongst the home defence every time he took the ball on, but the repeated penalties for technical offences prevented the visitors from being able to sustain pressure long enough for it to hurt. On 34 minutes the home side found their way into Cornish territory again and after winning a penalty after an offence at a scrum, their kicker again levelled the match. Towards the end of the half, the front row of James Turnbull, Mike Allewell and Simon Wood pinched a scrum against the head for Aird to drive deep into the heart of the Effingham 22. As the ball was worked from right to left and back again, the home side demonstrated why they have rarely shipped multiple points as their defence held strong. When the half time whistle went they clearly thought the hardest part of their task was over as they greeted it with jubilation!

Cornish have also repeatedly shown themselves to be a cussed side to break down in the last 13 league games, and Effingham did not get anywhere near to scoring a try in this match despite the conditions being in their favour in the second period. This was due in part to the fact that Calvert had honed his considerable radar to their lineouts and snaffled most of them at source. With little clean ball from which to work, the home side would have to be content with breaking up the visitors game to enable them to stay in the game. Early on the second period, both sides were reduced a man after a fracas at a ruck saw two yellow cards produced. Gradually forced to defend further and further up the pitch, Effingham's ranks were clean broken by Mitchell on 46 minutes as he darted through just inside the home half. He was checked by the full back but drove deep into the home 22 only for the scrambling defence to turn the ball over before his support could arrive. On 53 minutes a penalty was kicked into the home 22 and the driving maul from the lineout brought down close to the home line. It was recycled right to left for Williams-Jone to crash across the whitewash in the company of two defenders. Without the benefit of a TV replay (where are the cameras when you need them?!), the referee could not award the score but Cornish were convinced of the score. From the ensuing scrum 5, Pollard saw a gap and dashed through it only to again be held up as he crossed the line, the excellent home D proving rock solid again. The weather now began to change, the rain ceasing and the wind dropping. This encouraged Cornish to put more width on the ball and more was seen of Keith Thompson, Graham Dodge and wing Jim Reynolds who was making his full debut. The latter had shown real strength in making a series of carries in the opening period and again went close wide right after an interchange with Will Ho at 8. The visitors made changes now to freshen up the pack, Aird moving into the row in place of Thornton Williams with Pete Drewett coming on a blind side, and Wheeler coming on in place of Wood. On 64 minutes Pollard struck a penalty that fell short, which was then knocked on by a home forward and then fielded by his team mate in front of him, resulting in a far more kickable penalty. Pollard made no mistake and Cornish had a deserved lead once more. As Cornish upped the ante, they were guilty of moving too wide too soon in the still slippery conditions. Twice in this period the ball was spilled in attacking positions and fly-hacked through by the Effingham backs. On both occasions Cornish were quickest to respond, Thompson and Dodge snuffing out the danger as the ball crossed the line. A rare foray into Cornish territory on 70 minutes saw the visitors concede an equally brainless penalty when a forward came in from a clearly offside position to break up a maul. Though some distance out, the home 10 measured his kick perfectly to square it up at 9-9. A final change saw York replace Reynolds for his debut, reward for some excellent effort at training and in recent 2s matches. Shortly after, the referee awarded Effingham a tap penalty for a scrummaging offence. This was taken quickly from behind him, though play was allowed to continue. Though driven back at the breakdown, the home side won another penalty just inside the Cornish half. This time their kicker struck it horribly and it went well wide. Cornish won another penalty in the dying minutes too far out to kick. For about the only time in the match, Effingham won one of their visitors set pieces and scrambled the ball to safety. The final whistle went with the score all square at 9-9, a strangely predictable result given the conditions.

Judging by the comments on the Effingham website in recent months, they are just delighted not to be involved in the relegation battle. Their recent results should encourage them to be more ambitious than that and their defence on this day demonstrated a real commitment to the shirt. There seems some confusion amongst teams in the division re relegation, but it is clear cut - 2 go down to London 4 S/W. The confusion stems in part from the moves of Chichester and Bognor to the London South-West division from next season. In all probability, this will mean some clubs being level transferred to London 3 South-East from this division, the number dependant upon the numbers coming down from London 2 South (likely to be 2) and whether the play-off winners for promotion to London 2 South come from London 3 South-West or not. Thus, assuming Guildford and Wimbledon come down from 2, and PJF win the play off, 2 sides are likely to head east from 3 S/W. This is worked out by measuring total mileages to all the sides in London 3 South-East. Where total mileages are very close, the side finishing higher in the tables has the choice of moving across or not. So, on current standing, Warlingham would be promoted from London 4 S/W but would head east and would be joined in all probability by Old Reigatians, allowing Chichester and Bognor (promoted from London 4 S/E) to switch to London 3 S/W. The fun really starts if PJF do not win the play-off, causing 3 sides to possibly be switched. What is certain is that clubs like Effingham and Old Reigatians will want to finish as high as possible to maximise their chances of staying put. Wherever Cornish end up next season, this young side will want to learn how to win 'sticky dog' matches like this one. They have clearly moved miles forward from the early season and will have a couple of weeks to hone those skills before the league recommences at the end of March.



LCRFC – Graham Dodge, Jim Reynolds (Justin York), Keith Thompson, Henry Mitchell, Mike Harvey, Dan Pollard, Adam McVicar, Will Ho, Mark Williams-Jones, Rob Aird (Capt.), Thornton Williams, Pete Calvert, James Turnbull, Mike Allewell, Simon Wood (Ben Wheeler).


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