THE Cornish All Blacks remain unbeaten in the league since December after winning 14-5 at mid-table Bridgwater & Albion in their rearranged South West One (West) clash at the College Way Ground.

The All Blacks travelled up to Somerset on the back of eight wins and a draw since losing to Exeter University before Christmas and put in a determined display to take the points thanks to tries from Jon Dawe and skipper Lloyd Duke, which were both converted by Ben Hawke.

After thrashing bottom side Clevedon 49-12 the week before, the Cornishmen made just one change with Dan Pearce coming into the side for the unavailable Tom Sandercock on the wing, which meant a recall to the bench for Harry Dawe, who was joined by Ed Dudden instead of Chae Jenkins.

Although the game was never in danger of not being played, the conditions were far from ideal for free-flowing rugby as a strong wind meant that both sides had to utilise their forwards as much as possible.

Bridgwater lost just 19-13 at Polson Bridge back in November and they were quickly out of the blocks to score inside four minutes.

Some sloppy defence from the All Blacks allowed Albion to make plenty of yards up the field, and in the end, full-back Rob Gurnett raced onto a pass from openside-flanker Ollie Dunn to go over in the right-hand corner.

After the initial onslaught from the home side, the visitors responded well as they used the wind to the advantage, although clearcut chances were at a premium.

As so often has been the case in recent weeks, the All Blacks were dominant in the scrum and it was from one of those on the half-hour mark that their first try came.

After the ball was played out by scrum-half Shaun Crawford and Reuben Edwards to player/coach Ryan Westren, Westren popped the ball off to the onrushing Jon Dawe, who broke through a couple of tackles before using his strength to go over the line from 20-metres.

Despite Dan Pearce returning to the side, it was Hawke who continued on kicking duties after slotting seven from seven last week, and he had the simple task of kicking the extras to make it 7-5.

Hawke did manage to push a 35-metre penalty just wide before the All Blacks were left ruing a refereeing decision right on the stroke of half-time.

Number eight Brandon Rowley went on a lung-busting 30-metre run before offloading the ball for what seemed a certain try. However, the referee had adjudged it to have gone forward, ensuring the teams went into the break with just two points between them.

After dominating the vast majority of the first 40 minutes, the game continued in the same vain for the rest of the second-half with the All Blacks in possession against a resolute home defence.

The All Blacks’ scrum was on top once more and it again proved to be the platform for the match-clinching try in the 61st minute.

After being given a penalty some 40-metres out, they strode their way forward with the home defence having to resort to giving away penalties, which eventually saw loosehead-prop Lewis Phillips given ten minutes in the sin-bin.

After being given yet another penalty, the visitors continued to use their scrum and after being given one 15-metres out, they unceremoniously strode towards the line with Duke touching down for yet another try.

Hawke again made sure of the extras to give them a nine-point lead.

The rest of the game was played out with relative ease by the All Blacks although they could have scored another try before the end, but coughed up possession just a couple of metres from the line.

However in the end it didn’t matter as they extended their lead over fourth-placed Newent to eight points, although the Gloucestershire-based club have a game in-hand.

The All Blacks are next in action on Saturday (3pm) when they travel to fifth-placed Cullompton while Newent head to Bridgwater & Albion.

Duke admitted that it was all about the points, regardless of performance.

He said: “After they scored inside the first five minutes which came through some passive defence from us, we took control of the game for the next 75 minutes.

“At half-time we knew we were in control although we got to play with the wind in the first-half so we knew it was going to be a hard 40 minutes coming up as we were playing into the wind and exiting our own half was going to be difficult. However we were in complete control in the second 40 as well. Most of it was played between our ten-metre line and their 22. We had two or three opportunities to score, which we didn’t take and to be fair to them they defended really well.

“But after the way we started to go 5-0 down, we’ve got to be quite happy to go away in unattractive conditions, get the win and keep our unbeaten run going of being the only team in the league to lose since the start of the second-half of the season.”

In a game which was tight throughout, Duke was full of his praise for his pack.

He said: “Our front five played really well as did Fred (Levent Bulut) when he came on at half-time and the scrum was the difference between the two sides. We were able to put pressure on them with that and that was particularly important as passing the ball wasn’t easy.”

Cullompton, who were promoted last season from Western Counties (West) after winning a play-off against Western Counties (North) runners-up Chew Valley, have enjoyed an excellent campaign back at Level Six and are currently fifth in the table with ten wins, 11 defeats and a solitary draw.

They had also won their previous five home games before Saturday’s 49-0 reversal to league leaders Exeter University and were undone by a late Dan Pearce try at Polson Bridge back in November, which gave the All Blacks a 14-12 victory.

Duke is wary of what to expect in East Devon but is confident of maintaining their ten-match unbeaten league run.

He said: “They’re really organised and very hard to break down. It’s going to take a big effort and we know that our set-piece is going to be massive for us. It’s a hard challenge but one we’re confident about.

“We want to make sure that we finish third, so we know that we’ve got to keep winning to put pressure on Newent.”

Kick-off at Stafford Park is scheduled for 3pm.