LONDON 3 SOUTH-WEST
09/02/08
LONDON CORNISH v LONDON IRISH AMATEUR

London Cornish 53 - London Irish Amateur 10

London Cornish produced yet more compelling evidence that they are the fastest improving team in London 3 South-West with this 9 try demolition of fellow exiles London Irish Amateur at the Richardson Evans Memorial Playing Fields on Saturday. The win was achieved by 4 goals and 5 tries to a try and a penalty, some of the rugby demonstrating the superb handling and tremendous pace of which the home side have become capable. The win was the 8th in the last 10 league matches for Cornish, and the 5th straight home win.

The match began on a beautiful spring like afternoon on a perfect playing surface, the sweat dripping from the players during the warm-up a portent of things to come. Cornish had made a few changes in the pack from the side narrowly beaten on the Channel Islands, Thornton Williams given a league debut at lock in place of injured Skipper Rob Aird, Ben Shribman returning at prop to allow Ben Wheeler to switch to his favoured position of hooker in place of the injured Will Carew-Gibbs, and Will Ho at long last returning from injury at no 8 in place of the holidaying Chris Milne. Free scoring wing Mike Harvey also returned, Jim Strover switching to full back in place of the injured Tim Mucken. The home side actually had a wobbly start, knocking on the kick-off and then conceding a penalty at the first ruck, the kick slotted to give Irish a 3-0 lead after a mere minute. It did not take long for black & golds to strike back, centre Henry Mitchell hitting a great line on 5 minutes to crash through on half-way, hand off the full back and dive over under the posts, fly half Dan Pollard adding the extras. It was quickly apparent that the huge Cornish front 5 were far too strong for their visitors, only fine work by the Irish no 8 limiting the damage in the early exchanges. Pollard angled kicks all round the pitch to keep his pack moving forward, and from one of these on 11 minutes, Cornish pinched the Irish lineout on their 22. Two phases saw Mitchell again demonstrate real power to break the first line defence and carry the cover over with him to crash across the whitewash by the posts, Pollard taking the lead out to 14-3. The next 15 minutes saw Cornish concede a series of penalties, two of which the visiting kicker pulled wide of the posts. Their 10 had revealed a prodigious boot in open play, but it was noted that though the bullets flew a long way, the trigger took a while to pull. The home side had already shown an ability to break the Irish defence, and with Rod Petre, Skipper Mike Allewell and Ho competing well at the breakdown, Irish were limited to trying to roll Cornish back, a tactic for which the home side were well prepared. On 26 minutes another break freed up left wing Harvey, who needs no invitation to ignite the afterburners. No hands were laid on him as he seared clear of the cover and round under the posts to give his kicker the easy task of making the score 21-3. Irish continued to mount a robust defence, much of it right on the edge of legality, but West Countrymen are not likely to be intimidated by such tactics and Cornish retained their discipline. The referee had his work cut out to see the 'afters' at most breakdowns, the match simmering throughout. He did well to keep his cards in his pocket for the duration, most of the hand to hand combat sorted out by the players, neither side prepared to take a step backwards! On 38 minutes Pollard angled a spiralling kick away from the Irish defence from left to right into the visitors 22. First on hand was the Irish 10, but he was closed down by right wing Bramble, who charged down the clearance attempt and gleefully snaffled the rebound to touch down wide right. For once Pollard missed the conversion attempt but the half time whistle went on a 26-3 lead for the home side.

Discipline was the watchword for Cornish at the break, the home side having been dominant in most aspects of play. Carefully using Pete Calvert and Williams at lock to gain good lineout ball, the stream of decent possession was not thrown wide off first phase, but built to provide the backs with more space. The front row of Shribman, Allewell and James Turnbull continued to pressurise a tiring Irish front row and a strike was taken against the head on 44 minutes. The ball was worked from right to left and into the Irish 22 where Pollard spotted a gap and arched his way through it to score on the left flank, any half-time plans to stem the flow by Irish now out of the window. Pollard pulled the conversion narrowly wide, but now it was just a question of how many his side could get, the lead now out to 31-3. On 50 minutes scrum half Mike Dardis worked a blind side move inside the Irish half. As Pollard worked the ball wide he was hit by a cynical, late shoulder charge, the impact driving him into the ground and ending his match instantly. The referee did not pick up the incident but when play broke down all hell broke loose as Cornish had clearly identified the miscreant. Calling both Skippers in for a chat, the referee again did well to keep the lid on the situation. Keith Thompson switched to fly half in place of Pollard, Adam McVicar coming on at outside centre. Cornish exacted the perfect revenge, a rolling maul from the ensuing lineout driven up to the line where former St Ives man Wheeler plunged over the line to score. Open side Petre struck the conversion attempt well but across the posts. Cornish immediately made a double change, former Swansea lock Joe Purcell coming on for Williams and Mark Williams-Jones on at 8 for Ho; both made a positive impact on their arrival. This rearrangement gave Cornish another lineout option, one they used superbly as the game wore on. Waiting for his moment, Petre had trained his beady eye on the guilty party responsible for seeing Pollard off the park. When the Irishman received a pass on half-way, he was poleaxed by a superb, shuddering hit that slammed him into the ground and drew an appreciative gasp from the watching crowd, sweet revenge indeed. Ulsterman Thompson was also clearly enjoying the challenge of playing at 10 against his countrymen, a role he filled on many occasions for the 2s last season. Using his full range of passing he encouraged his fellow backs to attack from deep, McVicar breaking through on a number of occasions to link with Mitchell, Bramble and Strover. This was a feature of all of the remaining game, the visiting pack seemingly finding injuries at every breakdown as they tried to slow the pace of the game in the heat. Finally, on 57 minutes, Irish gained some reward for their efforts when they managed to find room from a ruck inside the home 22 for one of their forwards to cross the line untouched, the conversion added to reduce the arrears to 36-10. Any possible chance of a comeback was quickly snuffed out as Cornish again broke from deep on 63 minutes. The ball was worked through to full back Strover, arriving on the crash, and then quickly recycled for Dardis to gain due reward for his efforts. The conversion was missed to leave the sides 31 points apart. With the visiting set piece under such pressure, Thompson drove his side back inside the Irish 22 on 70 minutes. Irish had the 5 metre scrum but the ball shot out of the back and across the tryline for Dardis to pounce and land a poachers try. He attempted the conversion himself; the less said about the attempt the better! The final try came in the closing minutes when Cornish worked a blindside move to give Bramble the chance to exploit his supreme finishing skills. He went outside one man and weaved between another two to round and score under the posts to bring up the half century. Thompson drop kicked the conversion to bring the curtain down on another decent days work by the Cornishmen.

These appear to be two clubs heading in opposite directions, London Irish Amateur having lost each of their last 9 league matches. This was by far the most points they have conceded on that run and they will want to quickly put this behind them in the remaining 6 matches. They are only 4 points clear of the drop zone now and with matches against all of the sides beneath them to come, those games take on greater significance now. They were a decent bunch back at The Telegraph and will not fail for team spirit. Cornish need to carry this form into their remaining matches to ensure they continue their climb. Whatever the results in those matches, this young group of players seem to be really enjoying their rugby and in this game were a pleasure to watch.

LCRFC – Jim Strover, George Bramble, Keith Thompson, Henry Mitchell, Mike Harvey, Dan Pollard (Adam McVicar), Mike Dardis, Will Ho (Mark Williams-Jones), Rod Petre, Mike Allewell (Capt.), Thornton Williams (Joe Purcell), Pete Calvert, James Turnbull, Ben Wheeler, Ben Shribman.


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