THE Eagles had another convincing win over a strong London Cornish team on Saturday.
Cornish, who are chasing the Eagles in London Two South West, started off well. They made good ground through the forwards and forced a penalty for offside, but the penalty kick drifted wide in the wind.
An excellent dropout from Eagles' number ten, Brian Collins, went deep and Cornish sought to run the ball wide, making some ground before being well tackled by the Eagles cover defence.
The Eagles then turned the ball over and broke away, taking play up to the Cornish 22.
Rees wrong-footed the defence with a sharp dummy and crossed the whitewash for the opening five-pointer, converted by Collins for 7-0.
Play oscillated to and fro, with both sides making line breaks but both defences able to recover.
Richard Smith wrong-footed the Cornish defence as momentum swung to the Eagles and they took up camp in the visitors' 22.
Tom Ellinson and Mark Allen were prominent, earning the Eagles a penalty, but the Collins radar was slightly awry as the kick shaved the post.
John Squire gathered the restart and the Eagles attacked through the backs. Ed Ralph took the ball on, setting up a ruck from which the ball was recycled to Collins. His drop goal attempt was just wide and the momentum swung once again as Cornish dominated the next ten minutes.
Eagles defended well but conceded a penalty for not rolling away, which was slotted over to make the score 7-3.
The Eagles attacked the restart and forced a turnover. Jason Evans made 30 yards before off-loading to Ed Thornton, and Cornish were penalised for going over the top.
The Collins radar was now attuned and he made it 10-3 going into the break.
The second half began promisingly as the Eagles recovered the restart and, from this point on, what had been a relatively even contest became a try-fest for the Eagles. They scored five second-half tries, of which only one went unconverted.
Cornish replied with an unconverted try early on, a penalty after 20 minutes, and a converted try between the Eagles fifth and sixth tries but the Eagles scored an impressive 33 points in the second half.
The spectators had been treated to a fine game, expertly officiated by referee Georgina Crabb.
This weekend, the Eagles are at home to Purley John Fisher in the Surrey Cup, kick off 2.15pm.
The club will be showing the live Six Nations games between Wales and Ireland and then England and Scotland, with haggis available to purchase.
Eagles: Ellinson (T), Mullen, Allen, Prior, Stocker, Thornton, Young, Rees, Losardo, Collins, Smith (R), Evans, Ralph, Squire, Fee. Reps:,Cave, Parker, and Valente.
