THE Cornish All Blacks kicked off their season on Saturday with a 48-0 win over Barnstaple 1st XV.

In the first of a number of pre-season friendlies for the side, the home squad made a slow start, but as their confidence grew, the players seemed to gel as a team and upped their game.

That's not to say that Barnstaple didn't give the All Blacks a run for their money and a number of scares, but the visitors couldn't make it through the Launceston defence to score.

Launceston's first try came in the 35th minute, when Bryn Jenkins powered over the line. Darren Semmens followed with the second, which was converted by Mal Roberts, 1st XV captain, taking Launceston's score to 12-0 at half time.

Ben Turner extended the lead with a further try, but Roberts' conversion went wide of the posts.

Launceston continued to dominate play and Mike Rawlings scored the fourth try, converted this time by new signing Joe Wearne.

A further drive by Launceston resulted in an unconverted try by Bruce Pow.

Jason Luff was one of the players who stood out during the game. In the 46th minute, he managed to break free and weaved through the Barnstaple players as if they were standing still, ending his run with a try, which he failed to convert himself!

Shortly after, Luff set up another try, this time scored by Tony Yapp and converted by Roberts.

The home side were leading 41-nil, but they hadn't finished quite yet.

In the 70th minute, another try was secured by Kieron Lewitt, returning to Polson, again converted by Roberts.

Barnstaple played well and spent a good amount of time in Launceston's territory, but at the end of the 80 minutes, it was Launceston who were victorious.

Launceston's Director of Rugby, Jon Hill, said after the game: "We played some really good rugby in the first half, but missed quite a few opportunities. To be fair to Barnstaple, they were very dogged and for the first half an hour it was 0-0 and they held us out.

"The forward confrontation was there for all to see, but we ran away with it in the second half, when our fitness and skill levels told, and our ability to raise the intensity of the game meant we created a lot of opportunities."