NEW?signing Dan Pearce was the star of the show as the Cornish All Blacks’ first game outside of the national leagues in 17 years ended in victory at newly-promoted Keynsham.

Two leagues separated the sides last term and it was the visitors who started the stronger of the two, going 13-0 up inside the opening quarter of an hour through Pearce’s converted try and two penalties.

Jimmy Tucker’s men were dominating but were caught by a Keynsham counterpunch as a wayward pass close to the try line allowed the home side to break away and eventually score.

Despite the setback the Cornishmen regrouped and went further ahead when Pearce once again converted his own try.

But again the freeflowing home side looked dangerous with ball in hand and reduced the arrears to 20-14 right on the stroke of half-time.

Obviously buoyed by the late first-half score, Keynsham came flying out of the traps in the second-half and found themselves 24-20 up after just ten minutes of the second-half thanks to two unconverted tries.

In seasons gone by, the All Blacks would have probably crumbled. However, they retook the lead when winger Martin Kneebone went over in the corner after a fine team move. Again Pearce was imperious with the boot, slotting over the conversion from the touchline.

Confidence had returned to the Launceston ranks and they emphatically put the game to bed as skipper Lloyd Duke went in under the posts before player/coach Ryan Westren pounced on a loose ball on the Keynsham try line after his own big hit. Pearce again converted to put the visitors 41-22 ahead and take his personal tally to 26 points for the afternoon.

Although, the home side did grab the last word with a try in injury-time, Duke was left delighted with the start to the season.

Duke said: “It was a really good all-round team performance and it’s nice to start the season so well. We knew that they’d come into the game confident as they’ve been used to winning, so we knew that the first ten to 15 minutes were crucial and we did brilliantly to be 13-0 up early on.

“Our scrum in the first-half was absolutely brilliant as it allowed us to get on the front foot and play in their half, which allowed us to win penalties and put points on the board.

“We’ve now also probably got the most dangerous backline we’ve had in two or three years so it was important to get the ball out to them and they did the job in scoring four of our five tries.”

Going forward, Duke believes that coming from behind to win the game will do his side the world of good in the months ahead.

“They came back into the game well and were very good in attack and to find ourselves behind was a bit disappointing.

“Last year it would have been us losing that game 41-29 so it’s a massive step forward to come back and win the game. We told ourselves that we had to buckle down and get the job done and that’s what we did.

“Saying that, it’ll be interesting to see where Keynsham finish. I thought they were a good side so I’ll be keeping an eye out on how they do.”

This Saturday sees the All Blacks on the road once more to Bristol, this time at Thornbury who are seasoned campaigners in South West 1 West, finishing seventh, second and sixth in the last three seasons, and Duke believes that it’ll give him a much better understanding of the league.

Duke said: “Thornbury will be a good indicator to see where we’re at. Over the last three seasons they’ve done well and are a seasoned South West 1 (West) team.

“We know that we’ll have to put in a good performance if we’re going to get anything up there so we’re really looking forward to the game and trying to build on last weekend.”