Saturday, January 18

South West Premier

Maidenhead 22

Cornish All Blacks 17

LAUNCESTON picked up a crucial bonus point in their relegation battle as they lost 22-17 at Maidenhead on Saturday.

The All Blacks made the longest trip of the season to Berkshire in buoyant mood having won their last three games, to take on the promotion-chasing hosts who won an 85-point thriller by the narrowest of margins at Polson Bridge back in October.

The hosts led 10-7 at the break and further efforts from giant number eight Dave Cole and Ben Mitchell’s second, sent them 15 points clear. However a late try and Glenn Coles’ penalty meant the visitors made the long trip home with some reward.

Joint head coaches Ian Goldsmith and Ryan Westren made just one change from the side that beat Ivybridge a fortnight earlier as Tom Sandercock was brought into the side for full-back Alfie Lang, which meant Reuben Edwards vacated his position at outside-centre to move to 15.

Maidenhead had lost just once on their 4G pitch at Braywick Park this term and flew out of the blocks. However some last-ditch defending and tackling meant they were denied their first points until the 17th minute when a penalty was slotted by fly-half Will Runciman.

The Maids were the better side and extended their lead ten minutes later through Mitchell. A swift break from lock Ross Muil who offloaded to his second-row partner Chris Campbell, who then passed to Mitchell to go over in the corner. Runciman was again successful.

Launceston, who were playing their orange away kit, continued to plug away and went into the break just three points behind.

A tap penalty from saw number eight Brandon Rowley make good yards before he was tackled. The ball was kept in the forwards as they inched their way to line before Rory Cinnamond finally crashed over. Winger Dan Pearce was successful with the conversion.

Whatever Maidenhead’s director of rugby David Mobbs-Smith said at half-time had the desired effect as they flew out of the traps in the second period.

A five-metre scrum drive ended up with impressive number eight Dave Cole dotting down. Once again Runciman kept his cool with the boot to make it 17-7.

The visitors to their credit continued to make life difficult although they went further behind on the hour as more good hands ended with Mitchell crossing for his second.

This seemed to bring the All Blacks to life as they enjoyed their first real sustained spell of pressure. They pulled one back with 12 minutes to go as a driving maul from a lineout was finished off by Harry Lightfoot. With Pearce being taken off, fly-half Glenn Coles kicked the points to bring them to within eight.

Launceston once again found themselves deep in the 22 but were penalised, allowing the Maids to get out. But the visitors did nab a bonus point with a couple of minutes remaining when Coles kicked a penalty. But despite being given more time, Maidenhead held on.

With Newbury, Exmouth and Bracknell all winning, Launceston are now just one point above the bottom two. However with two teams going down, five points separate the top six.

The All Blacks’ next game is against second bottom Newbury Blues at Polson Bridge next Saturday (3pm).

Player/coach Ryan Westren admitted his side didn’t deserve to win, but praised his side’s attitude.

He said: “We kept ourselves in the fight throughout. We didn’t play to the standards we have come to expect over the last month or so, but we stayed in it. We know we’ve come a long way. To come to second in the league and be disappointed shows that.

“Torin Clarke was man-of-the-match for us in my opinion by a long way and Fred (Bulut) also played pretty well, but there were also some performances which weren’t up to the standard we expect. But in the current situation we’re in, we’ve got to take the positives. We never went away and come the end we could have snatched it. It’s testament to the lads to dig in, even when we weren’t at our best. It’s a game that could have got away from us in the opening 20 minutes, but we stayed in the fight. If you’re in the game with 20 minutes to go, you never know what may happen.”

The All Blacks have a tough month coming up. After Newbury they head to neighbours Okehampton, who have lost once at home all season before facing the top two. They welcome Weston-super-Mare before going to leaders Barnstaple a fortnight later.

Westren said: “February is pretty loaded with games which is good for us after it being very stop-start. Come the end of February, we would like to be in a position where we’re safe.

“We can’t control what happens with other teams, that’s the way we have to look at it. Everyone else down there is in the same position.

“It’s going to be a really interesting last nine games. Every side that’s in it is going to have to be on the money as a slip up here and there means you could find yourself stuck at the bottom. No side has got cast adrift, which goes to show that on any given day, anyone in this league can beat anyone.”

Cornish All Blacks —

Edwards, Pearce, Sandercock, Westren, Kneebone, Coles, Collings; Cinnamond, Bulut, Thomas, Bottoms, Clarke, Lightfoot, L Duke (captain), Rowley.

Replacements: Bartlett, Goldsmith, Lang.

Tries: Cinnamond, Lightfoot.

Convs: Pearce, Coles.

Pens: Coles.

Cornish All Blacks’ man-of-the-match:

Torin Clarke.