Having secured their first away win of the season against KCS Old Boys, with a Blewitt penalty kick 5 minutes from the end, there was much optimism amongst the Chichester faithful that the team could secure 3 consecutive wins for the first time in 11 months.

Blues made 5 changes to the side that beat KCS Old Boys. Zac Conoly and Nick Blount came into the pack, Josh Goodwin and Matt McLagan returned in the backs with Shaun Baker on the bench.

The morning drizzle had abated by kick-off but a strong south westerly wind gusted across the pitch into Vultures Corner.

Chichester started the match playing down the slope and conceded a penalty inside 3 minutes, but were let off the hook when the kick fell short. 5 minutes later it was the visitors’ turn to concede allowing Tom Blewitt to stroke the ball through the uprights for the first score of the afternoon. 3 - 0. Cornish turned up the wick and spent the next 12 minutes camped in the Blues’ half probing their defence. Chichester conceded a number of penalties but somehow held out, eventually turning over the ball on the try line and clearing. A try saving tackle by Ben Deavall and a couple of wayward final passes delayed Cornish opening their account. Finally, Blues were caught offside allowing the visitors to level the scores on 21 minutes. 3 - 3. 2 minutes later Cornish stole the ball at the lineout which found its way to the right wing who jinked his way through the Chichester defence to dot down. Conversion missed. 3 - 8. With 26 minutes played a Cornish infringement provided Blewitt with a chance to narrow the gap, with his trusty left boot. 6 - 8. From the restart Cornish mounted an attack with the outside centre outstripping the Blues’ defence to touch down in the corner. Converted. 6 - 15. With the first half drawing to a close Blues mounted their first sustained attack which resulted in a yellow card for the visitors. Despite the man advantage Chichester couldn’t breach the well organised Cornish defence.

Half time and the Chichester supporters surprised not to be further behind.

The visitors started the second half strongly and it was against the run of play when a Chichester break on 51 minutes was stopped illegally and the referee produced another yellow card. Once again Blewitt slotted the penalty kick to reduce the deficit. 9 - 15. 4 minutes later the referee produced the yellow card again and it was Chichester’s turn to lose a man to the sin bin. Cornish kicked the ball to touch for the lineout and then drove over the line close to the posts for their third try of the afternoon. Converted. 9 - 22. This seemed to spur Chichester on and they finally started to put the visitors under some sustained pressure. Great work from Joe Woods, Zac Conoly and Martin O’Callaghan saw Blues cross the line twice but both times the ball was held up by a resolute Cornish defence. With 73 minutes on the clock the visitors lost another player to the sin bin. The Chichester pack crossed the line for a third time and Ben Polhill was on hand to touchdown close to the posts. Converted by Blewitt. 16 - 22. 5 minutes left and much relief amongst the Blues’ supporters that a losing bonus point had been secured. A Cornish infringement provided Blues with a lineout which was won by Conoly whose pass found Woods in space. The prop burst forward making 15 metres before passing out to Harry Seaman whose offload found Tyrese Makasi on the touchline. The young hooker beat 2 defenders to touch down in Vultures Corner. A difficult kick from out wide was converted by Blewitt. 23 - 22 with 2 minutes left to play. Despite a couple of heart stopping moments Chichester closed the match out for their 9th victory of the season and 4 points.

London Cornish will be disappointed to have left Oaklands Park with a losing bonus point, after such a dominant performance. However, with players returning from injury and games against Beckenham and HAC before the end of the month they must be favourites to pull clear at the bottom of the table.

Man of the match was Martin O’Callaghan who put in an excellent performance as stand in No. 8.

Chichester squad: Deavall, Makasi, Woods, Conoly, Blount, Polhill, Wallace (Capt.), O’Callaghan, Goodwin, Davies, McLagan, Seaman, Blewitt, Rowland, C. Norton, Drayson, Spriggs and Baker.

Chichester’s next match is on Saturday, 18th of January when they travel to Kent for the match against Westcombe Park. Kick-off is at 14:00. The coach leaves Oaklands Park at 10:30 sharp if there are any supporters who would like to travel with the team.