ALTHOUGH the Cornish All Blacks had by far the best of the second half they had, by then, left themselves too much to do to end Tynedale's run of 33 consecutive home league games without defeat. The hosts used the wind to great effect and made the most of some serious Launceston lapses to go in at the interval 29-7 ahead with the four try bonus point already in the bag, writes Tony Randel.

The game was only four minutes old when the Tynedale backs first showed their prowess to good effect. Full back Jack Smales linked with centres Jack Harrison and Tom Dillon to draw in the Launceston defence before offloading to winger James Hoyle to score in the corner. Although fly half Robert Miller missed the conversion it was shades of things to come.

The game then became one of really serious and furious scrummaging by both packs in midfield. This was not a spectacle for the faint-hearted and it is credit to both sets of forwards that this tremendous battle continued for fully seven minutes without any serious infringement. It was rumoured that some of the lady members of Tynedale Council attending their first ever game of rugby were so overcome by what they were witnessing that they turned away lest they saw anything untoward!

Once the bout of scrummaging was over Tynedale were on the move again. This time the back row linked with the backs to give scrum half Ross Samson room to cross the line in the corner and run round almost between the posts before touching down. This time Miller added the extras to bring the score to 12-0.

Your correspondent was not yet too despondent as he recalled the Cornish All Blacks being 0-10 down at Polson against Tynedale in September only to go 29-10 ahead before the Northumbrians rallied. The same could well have happened again when Launceston got their first real scoring chance at the end of the first quarter. Marc Dibble and Ryan Westren put together a good move down the left which breached the solid Tynedale defence. The final pass inside to an unmarked Mal Roberts only ten yards out was not a good one, despite a valiant effort to gather it Mal knocked-on. If the pass had gone to hand and the score been 12-7 who knows what might then have happened!

It is no good crying over spilled milk but Tynedale made the most of the obvious blow to the visitors' morale and piled on the pressure. This was rewarded on the half hour by Jack Smales being able to avoid two tackle attempts with ease as he raced down the left wing. The Miller conversion took the score to 19-0.

Then, at last, Launceston showed a spark! A well weighted long pass from Steve Perry to Jason Luff caught the Tynedale defence napping and allowed Jason to work his magic past three of them before they realised what was happening. His well deserved try was converted by Mal Roberts.

However this brief moment did not last. Tynedale quickly got a penalty, converted again by Miller, and almost straight from the restart Tynedale sent the ball through a number of hands to set Jack Smales off down the wing with only his brother Hamish (who had replaced an injured Jon Fabian) between him and the line! This time Jack won the race which with Miller's conversion took the score to 29-7 at the interval.

Tynedale had not really won the first half; Launceston had lost it through a series major defensive errors and not taking their few opportunities.

The second half started brightly when Mal Roberts slotted a penalty for the visitors to put their score into double figures! The next twenty minutes or so was a war of attrition played almost entirely in the middle 50 metres of the pitch. Tynedale were getting the better of the set scrums, Launceston were dominating elsewhere but could not turn possession into meaningful attacks.

Eventually, well into the final quarter, Cornish All Blacks really did appear to have taken control. After a long period in the Tyne 22 and nearly crossing the line three times they were awarded a penalty try. With the score now at 29-17 all things looked possible – just!

However, despite continuous Launceston pressure on the Tynedale line their defence held firm and their string of games without defeat extended to 34! If you thought Polson was a fortress try Tynedale Park!

Scorers

Tynedale: tries, Hoyle, Samson, Smales (2); cons, Miller (3); pen, Miller.

Cornish All Blacks: tries, Luff, pen; cons, Roberts (2); pen, Roberts.

Tynedale: Jack Smales, James Hoyle (William Massey 75), Jack Harrison, Tom Dillon, Fraser Shaw, Robert Miller, Ross Samson, Jonny Williams (Matthew Fieldhouse 73), Joe Graham, Rupert Harden (Peter Southern 46), Ben Marshall (Andrew Murray 46), Eni Gesinde, Stuart Johnson, Grant Rastall and Jamie Murray (capt) (Greg Irvine 41).

Cornish All Blacks: Jon Fabian (Hamish Smales 36), Jason Luff, Ryan Westren, Mal Roberts, Marc Dibble, Steve Perry, Ben Turner, Keith Brooking (capt) (Dannie Manns 46), Glen Cooper, Jason Bolt, Tim Collier, Mike Myerscough, Josh Lord, Tony Roques (Mike Rawlings 56) and Sam Hocking; reps not used Adam Staniforth, Bryn Jenkins

Referee: Mr Mark Wilson (RFU).