THE Cornish All Blacks' National League Two match with Blackheath at the Rectory Field was abandoned 15 minutes into the second half when the floodlights broke down completely, writes Tony Randel.

Saturday's match kicked off at 3pm as it was under floodlights. Blackheath were leading 19-10 approaching the hour. If play had reached 60 minutes and then been stopped, the score would have stood as the result.

Despite the lights having been recently refurbished and used for a midweek game they had been malfunctioning for much of the match and finally gave up the ghost. The Launceston coaches had already protested that the game should not continue in the deteriorating conditions.

Joint head coach Chris Brown said: "We knew after a quarter of an hour that there was a problem. Our main concern was that the trouble should be put right before the 60-minute cut-off point. As it was, the second half had been littered with errors and the light got even worse when it started to rain. The players could hardly see each other".

In the 55th minute the referee Mr Andrew Vertigan, in consultation with the captains, very sensibly decided to abandon the match.

Although the Cornish All Blacks were trailing 19-10 at the time nothing should be read into the score as the conditions had not been suitable for playing rugby since the lights first went off after 15 minutes play. Both sides had made frequent errors due to the poor visibility whilst neither the players nor the match officials, let alone the spectators, could really see what was going on.

Finding an alternative date for the replay is now presenting a problem. The next free date, theoretically, is Saturday December 27 but that clashes with the Christmas holiday and is probably not likely to appeal to either club. There is the possibility of a National Trophy Saturday but that depends on how far each club progresses. Assuming that either Launceston beat Wharfedale or Blackheath beat Kendal there is no other free date until into February. Watch this space!

Meanwhile Westcombe Park visit Polson next Saturday to complete the first half of the season – see you there.