THIS was painful; to lose at Polson is bad enough but a whitewash really hurts. It is especially galling when Cornish All Blacks actually played well for long periods of the game. Cambridge were just better. Their display during the first half hour was some of the best rugby seen at Polson for a long time. Direct running, accurate passing, good ball retention and astute kicking gave them a 24 point advantage and the bonus point by the half hour; they deserved the win which keeps them just in touch with the league leaders, Birmingham, and puts Redruth well in their sights, writes Tony Randel.

After the 30 minute blitzkrieg the home side got their game more together and played some good rugby but found it very difficult to get over the gain line due to clever Cambridge defence. But they never gave up, their heads never went down and they battled right to the end. Certainly some of the youngsters can take a lot from this game and as long as they learn the lessons for the future the very disappointing scoreline will not have been in vain.

After the ritual opening ping-pong kicking Cambridge put on real pressure in the Launceston 22 swinging the ball left and right until hooker Matt Miles was driven over from a ruck in the sixth minute. Craig Evans added the extras.

The Cambridge backs then really got into gear, Luke Feilden (the league's top try-scorer) was everywhere, they all ran straight and direct until stopped by some good tackling but their timing of the off-load caught the defence flat footed at times. Six minutes after the first score the visitors scored again, This time after a ruck just into the home 22 it was fly half James Shanahan who got over the line after a couple of missed tackles.

Cambridge were very much on top at this stage and a score greater than England's cricket team ever seem to achieve appeared on the cards.

Cambridge never stopped attacking although the Cornish All Blacks never let up. The visitors' pressure was rewarded in 17th minute with a pushover try for number eight Tom Powell. Evans converted.

Launceston came close to scoring when a good Adam Staniforth cross kick sent Gary Kingdom into space but he was bundled into touch just short of the line. Other Cornish attacks were stopped by a solid wall of 'blood and sand' shirts. The visitors' fourth try was a bit of a gift; a wayward pass by Staniforth, (which had it come off would have been brilliant!) was scooped up by powerful winger Chris Lombaard who shot away to touch down.

With Cambridge having the bonus point in the bag on the half hour the hosts had a mountain to climb; particularly as the visitors would have the strong wind behind them in the second half.

The second half saw a much better Launceston performance. Cambridge never took their foot off the pedal but they were unable to break down a Launceston defence that appeared to have learnt from the first half. They really only had one scoring chance which was stopped by a brilliant Hamish Smales tackle. Unfortunately the same applied in reverse! Launceston had far more ball than earlier, forced Cambridge into a number of mistakes but could not breach their defence. The home team took the aggressive option with every penalty but despite winning the lineout could still not breach that line of 'blood and sand'. Cambridge began to get frustrated and ended up with a total of three yellow cards but even when a man down their defence held out as they battened down the hatches and waited for the Birmingham and Redruth results!

Disappointing but far from a disgrace; for the purist those first thirty minutes was a joy of running rugby as it should be. Nest week bring on our old friends from Blackheath for what will undoubtedly be a spirited tussle and then, on Good Friday, can we do Redruth a favour by getting revenge on Birmingham for the early season narrow defeat! Plenty of good rugby still to come at Polson this season.

Cornish All Blacks: Jon Fabian, Hamish Smales, Ryan Westren, Jake Murphy, Gary Kingdom, Adam Staniforth, Ben Turner (Lewis Webb 69), Jason Bolt, Darren Semmens (Glenn Cooper 59), Billy Moss (Andy Knight 79), Tom Skelding, Jon Brandling-Harris (Bryn Jenkins 64), Josh Lord (capt) (Glen Remnant 50), Tony Roques and Mike Rawlings.

Cambridge; Luke Fielden, Simon Lincoln, Adam Barnard (Paul Kendall 50), Craig Evans, Chris Lombaard, James Shanahan, Stef Leibenberg (Dan Hunter 66), Tom Laws, Matt Miles, Mike Guess (James Ross 40), Karl Rudski, Rob Hurrell (Dave Archer27) (Matt Otter 78), Dan Legge, Darren Fox (capt) and Tom Powell. Scorers — tries, Miles, Shanahan, Powell, Lombaard; cons, Evans (2)

Referee: Mr Michael Tuffy (RFU).