A LATE penalty try gave the Cornish All Blacks the fairy tale ending they were looking for in an otherwise frustrating game against Lydney.

The home team picked up the winning points after beating the Gloucestershire side 16-13.

Cornish All Blacks' Director of Rugby Neil Bayliss said a scrappy game was expected and, in spite of some errors, his side walked away with the points.

He said: "Lydney are always a scrappy side. They play a good, hard game of rugby. It was never going to be a walk in the park. We've had a very mixed fortnight with the squad, with injuries, unavailability and BJ Chapman being out, and we've lost a lot of momentum with all the changes and the new faces in the squad.

"When you lose a good core of players it does take it's toll. That showed a little bit today, but the guys who have come into the team have done a good job."

He added: "It was a scrappy game and we scrapped. Lydney have come up in this lead and they're scrapping to stay in the game. If you take everything into account, we didn't do too bad and we've picked up four points today. Saying that, there's no excuses. We didn't play particularly well today and that's something we've definitely got to look at."

Despite the All Blacks' victory, it could have been anyone's game. The first half was fairly uninspiring and Launceston started off badly, giving away a couple of penalties in quick succession. Lydney failed to gain any points and an infringement by the visitors helped put play back in their half.

A penalty to Launceston, kicked by Kieron Lewitt put the Cornish side 3-0 up.

For the full report, and a round-up of the area news and sport, see this week's edition of the Post.