LONDON 3 SOUTH-WEST
24/11/07
LONDON CORNISH v KCS OLD BOYS

London Cornish 54 - KCS Old Boys 13

Another emphatic win for London Cornish saw off a stubborn KCS side by 4 goals, 4 tries and 2 penalties to 2 tries and penalty in a pulsating local derby at the REMPF on Saturday. The win was the 5th straight victory in League and Cup from the side, as the club continues its fine run that brought victory for all 4 of its sides on Saturday.

In the absence of Will Carew-Gibbs, recuperating from a minor operation, former St Ives forward Ben Wheeler switched to his favoured position of hooker with Club Skipper James Turnbull coming in at prop.The only other changes saw Mike Dardis reclaim his spot at scrum half with Adam McVicar benching, and Jim Strover move to full back in a swap with George Bramble. This consistency of selection has allowed this young team to flourish in recent weeks, particularly against sides in the lower half of the table who have been unable to cope with the huge variety of the attacks coming at them.

On a cold, dark day in windy conditions on a perfect surface Cornish got the perfect start when lock Pete Calvert, enjoying the best form of his time at the club, fielded the kick off and set off on a powerful surge that was only halted just outside the visiting 22. Within 2 phases the exiles had worked some room out wide for Bramble to demonstrate his finishing prowess and plant the ball down out wide right, the conversion sliding across the face of the posts. On 7 minutes and with the home side dominating proceedings in all aspects, fly half Dan Pollard opened his account for the afternoon with a well struck penalty in front of the posts. On 16 minutes after another barnstorming run by the Cornish forwards, prop Andy Renner made the first of a series of powerful, battering incursions to break through on the KCS 22 and drive through tackles to smash his way across the whitewash to the right of the posts, Pollard adding the extras. Seemingly lured into a false sense of security by the ease with which they had build up a 15-0 lead, Cornish now took their feet right off the collective pedal. Back came KCS, demonstrating that with ball in hand they have a well structured game, albeit built heavily around a rolling maul and astute kicking from their 10. On 21 minutes they gained due reward for their efforts with a penalty having missed an earlier attempt. For all their domination of the KCS scrum, which had been sent backwards right from the start of the match, Cornish could not score the try that might have killed off the visitors, a number of possible scores being butchered after clean linebreaks had split the KCS rearguard open. This profligacy in the first period was punished when minutes from the half time whistle a break down the left flank saw an innocuous kick take a wicked bounce into the arms of the onrushing left wing who scooted over to score by the posts. The visiting kicker, who takes an inordinately long run up for his kicks, was rushed at the conversion and pushed his kick wide. Cornish Skipper Rob Aird greeted his troops with a few choice words at the break, aware that his team had not expended much energy in the opening period.

In a virtual carbon copy of the Old Wimbledonians game a few weeks earlier, Cornish had allowed a side back into a game in which the exiles had total control. Similarly to that game, things got worse before they got better, KCS managing to convince the referee of a touchdown from a maul after they worked some space down the left flank. Though the conversion was missed, the visitors were now only 15-13 down with fully 36 minutes left. What followed was a savage demonstration of the kind of rugby of which Cornish are capable as they responded to the crisis with a 6 try, 31 minute salvo of exhibition finishing. On 49 minutes Dardis sniped blind at a maul and after quick hands Calvert was on hand to twist his way over on the right flank at the clubhouse end, the tough conversion into the wind fading wide. On 52 minutes Pollard launched a kick left to right from half-way. Bramble anticipated it perfectly and outjumped the cover defence to retrieve the ball, scoot clear and score half way in from the right. Cornish made a couple of changes now, the perenially excellent McVicar replacing Dardis, taken off as a precaution following a knock, and Turnbull succumbing to the flu, Ashley Holloway coming in at hooker and Wheeler returning to prop. Pollard struck the conversion perfectly and within 5 more minutes had added a further penalty to take the score out to 30-13. On 62 minutes Matt Strover, a constant thorn in the visitors side all afternoon with his powerful running, was sent clear after quick hands from centres Henry Mitchell and Graham Dodge. He stepped the first defender and handed off the second before dashing over to score wide left, the extras not added on this occasion. With the Cornish scrum driving the visitors back at every set, only the KCS lineout guaranteed them any go forward ball but this too started misfiring now. On 68 minutes Cornish pinched one outside the visiting 22 and after a sharp interchange between Will Ho and Calvert, no 8 Chris Milne was on hand to apply the coup de grace, Pollard nailing the conversion to take the lead out to 42-13. Cornish were forced to make a final change when Matt Strover suffered a slight strain to his ankle, open side Rod Petre moved to the wing, Aird moving into the back row and former Portuguese International Manuel De Mello continuing his gradual return to Cornish ranks coming on at lock. Any thoughts the KCS right wing may have had regarding an easier last few minutes were soon dashed when on 74 minutes the ball was worked right to left inside the KCS 22 for Petre to demonstrate the extreme pace that has given him the nickname 'Hot Rod' at Cornish, his opposite number having no chance as Petre slid across the whitewash to take the score within sight of the half century. Finally, following a fantastic run by Ho from inside his own half, in which he beat 5 defenders and produced a superb hand off to get beyond another, Cornish won a penalty for offside deep inside the KCS 22. Aird eschewed the kick, the tap being worked to Jim Strover coming in at pace on the angle to burst through tired tackles and score underneath the posts to huge cheers from the cold but happy Cornish support. Pollard closed out the game with the conversion and Cornish had recorded their most convincing win yet at this level.

There are strong bonds between these two clubs built up over recent seasons, and is good to report that these were only strengthened following this match. KCS have immense strength in depth with very strong 2s and 3s sides and you would not bet against them recovering from their current plight in London 3 South-West. Cornish go from strength to strength, the exciting thing about this group of players being that they still have plenty of improvement in them, not least in staying focussed for a full 80 minutes of their league matches. With the 2s producing a superb win at their KCS counterparts in the Surrey Prem Reserve League to move within a whisker of the top of that division, a host of injured players yet to return to action, and a couple more new recruits yet to be unleashed on League action, the three matches leading up to the festive break should be fascinating to watch at LCRFC!

LCRFC – Jim Strover, George Bramble, Graham Dodge, Henry Mitchell, Matt Strover (Manuel De Mello), Dan Pollard, Mike Dardis (Adam McVicar), Chris Milne, Rod Petre, Will Ho, Rob Aird (Capt.), Pete Calvert, James Turnbull (Ashley Holloway),Ben Wheeler, Andy Renner.


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