LONDON 3 SOUTH-WEST
15/09/07
LONDON CORNISH v EFFINGHAM & LEATHERHEAD

London Cornish 13 - Effingham & Leatherhead 21

A disjointed performance by an injury hit London Cornish produced a deserved win by Effingham & Leatherhead in the second round of matches in London 3 South-West, the Eagles taking the match by 3 tries and 2 penalties to a goal and 2 penalties. The visitors had a simple game plan but executed it to perfection to become only the second away team in 11 league matches to pinch the points at the Richardson Evans.

With Skipper Tom Thirlwall still absent injured and his replacement as Skipper Jay Stirrett having been injured last week, the Skippers mantle was handed to prop Ben Shribman. Blind side Rob Aird continued in the row with the continued absence of locks Max Vere-Hodge (happily restored to training), Ollie Luard, Pete Calvert, Stirrett and Rob Webster, the latter making a successful comeback in the 2s. Henry Howe was called up from the 2s to make his debut in the row. With openside Rod Petre away for the weekend, Pete Drewett came in off the bench, while in the backs a debut was handed to Steve Lewis on the wing, full back Dan Pollard moved to centre in the absence of Tom Fegen, Dave Furze, Cieran Shire and Tim Mucken, Jim Strover switching to full back in Pollards place. On a beautiful, warm late Summers day, the pitch was noteably harder than in previous weeks but the day was set fair for rugby. With virtually the first action of the match Cornish lost wing James Broad to mediall ligament damage in his knee, club stalwart Adam McVicar coming on at full back and Strover switching back to the wing. The exiles were the better side in the early exchanges and the experienced Eagles pack used every legal means in the book to slow play down and break up the Cornish rhythm. A penalty on 7 minutes awarded for offside saw Pollard give the home side the lead. Despite having the territorial advantage, Cornish could not add to their tally, a missed penalty being the closest they came. For the second match running, the Cornish lineout misfired badly when inside enemy territory, and this really hurt the exiles since it denied key first phase ball to the backs and enabled the Eagles to play the tight mauling game they enjoy. Gradually they worked their way into the match and on the half hour barged their way into Cornish territory. Centre Josh Bartley-Smith now took a knock to the knee and as the visitors drove towards the posts a superb last ditch tackle from Aird cost him dearly, his knee also suffering. The referee insisted the latter was treated off the pitch and Effingham used the extra man to fashion an overlap for their right wing to reach out and score just inside the right touchline, the conversion attempt not close. Both Aird and Bartley-Smith returned to the fray though far from fit. From the restart Cornish conceded a penalty when a player dived over the top of a ruck and that too was converted to give a half time score of 3-8.

Cornish began the second period in much better fettle and were soon on the attack again, the scrummage providing what clean ball the backs got during the afternoon. Andy Renner made a couple of decent carries supported by Mike Allewell, until on 48 minutes a superb burst from hooker Will Carew-Gibbs saw him shrug off 3 tackles and drive up to the line. However, as he reached out to plant the ball down for a score a last ditch tackle knocked it from his grasp and the opportunity was lost. Increasingly encouraged by their ability to hold on to the ball and aware that they were edging the battle of the breakdown, the Eagles began to turn the screw in the best way they knew how, through the rolling maul. With Cornish not able to call on any of the big trucks who normally prevent this happening and Aird hampered by his knee injury, the visitors kept the ball tight for long periods. However, just when they thought they had the game licked, back came the exiles. A fine series of battering runs from Jonty Saunders, Renner and Allewell provided quick, clean ball on the Effingham 22. The ball was spun wide right into the waiting arms of Strover who appeared to have a clear run in. However, the player took his eye off the ball and spilt it forward. Redemption for Strover was not long in coming. Rich Gregory fed quick ball to fly half John Barker on 57 minutes and he angled a garryowen toward the Eagles left wing. Powering up to chase the kick Strover, who outjumped his man on the 10 metre line, shrugged off an attempted tackle. He handed off the full back and outsprinted the covering wing to score a fine try to the right of the posts. Pollard struck an excellent conversion to give his side back the lead, and he followed this with a penalty from a similar position minutes later to give Cornish a 13-8 lead. Cornish made a change now bringing on Milne for Drewett to provide an extra lineout jumper, but at the restart Howe was injured and was immediately replaced by Ben Wheeler with Shribman moving back into the row as cover. With Aird and Bartley-Smith unable to run, the exiles would have to play their last 18 minutes with 13 fit players. Conceding a penalty with 15 minutes left, the home side now only lead by 2. Worse was to follow, for on 74 minutes after a period of pressure, the Eagles finally worked some space from a rolling maul to crash over out wide, the conversion attempt striking an upright. Cornish simply could not hold onto the ball now, runners simply becoming isolated and turned over. On the final whistle a speculative fly hack was missed by the covering exiles defence and a gleeful visiting back dived over out wide to seal the points for his jubilant team mates by 13-21.

A mere 6 years ago Effingham were a London 2 side and Cornish 5 levels beneath in Surrey 3. The series of promotions by the latter since that time have been punctuated by defeats from time to time, and it has been the reaction to these defeats that has separated Cornish from most of the clubs they have passed along the way. There will be no panic from the coaching team who will welcome back Webster, Calvert, Petre, Furze, Matt Strover, Mike Harvey, James Turnbull and a couple of their new signings for selection from this point on, with more to follow in each successive week - they will all be needed as the next 3 league games are against the 3 unbeaten sides in the division, and the injury list got a few new names on it this weekend! Was this a bad day at the office or was last week just a fluke? Watch this space to find out the answer!

LCRFC – Jim Strover, James Broad (Adam McVicar), Dan Pollard, Josh Bartley-Smith, Steve Lewis, John Barker, Rich Gregory, Jonty Saunders, Pete Drewett (Chris Milne), Mike Allewell, Henry Howe (Ben Wheeler), Rob Aird, Ben Shribman (Capt.), Will Carew-Gibbs, Andy Renner.


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