CORNISH All Blacks player/coach Ryan Westren wants to see his players ‘really put their hand up’ when they welcome old rivals Redruth to Polson Bridge tonight (7.30pm) for their second pre-season game of the summer.

The All Blacks’ first run-out of the season was on Saturday at Cornwall/Devon League side Pirates Amateurs, who are coached by Westren’s brother, Murray.

Both sides had players missing but it was Launceston who emerged victorious, notching several scores without conceding.

Westren said: “It went well. The main benefit of the game was to give everyone a run-out, we scored eight or nine tries and it was about 50-0. It was a good run out and some good stuff came out of it.

“Everyone has now had some game time and it’s now in the boys’ court as to how much they play. “It was the last time that everyone is guaranteed game time. We have Redruth on Friday where not everyone will get a game and then we’ll take a squad down to St Ives for the final friendly which is likely to be similar to the one for the first league game at Exeter University.

“From my point of view everyone had the opportunity. It was made clear that everyone who was available would get that. Some of the boys put their hand up and some will have to force their way back in through training, but not everyone was available.”

Westren was also keen to emphasise the importance of Tuesday and Thursday nights when it comes to picking their 18-man squad once the real stuff starts.

He said: “As coaches, if we find it easy to pick a squad come the first game it shows that people wouldn’t have been training that well, the more people we’re discussing come the first week of September, the better.”

The club also took the opportunity to hold a bit of a team bonding session after the game with the squad staying down in Penzance for the night.

Westren said: “It was really good and thankfully the weather held off for the evening. We played some games such as Kwik cricket, had a BBQ and had a few drinks. There was plenty of laughing and in some ways it’s more important than the game, so everyone can get to know each other more.”

While Pirates Amateurs was viewed more as a chance to get some minutes into the players’ legs, Redruth will provide a much sterner challenge.

Currently the Duchy’s second highest ranked club in National League Two (South), the Reds and the Cornish All Blacks have enjoyed a fierce rivalry over the years.

However the fixture will be the first meeting between the two clubs since the 2015/16 season when the All Blacks were relegated.

The Reds are about to start a ninth successive season in Step Four of the English game and Westren admits it’ll be tough.

He said: “We want to give a good account of ourselves, and we want to see how people react to playing such a decent side. Hopefully some people will really put their hand up.

“They’re a well established National Two South side and we’ve just been promoted to the South West Premier so there’s a fair gulf in league status. There’s a fair disparity between us at the moment, but that’s not to say we’re not a force to be reckoned with either.

“We know what to expect and it’ll be a bit of an eye opener for some of the players. It’s a different dimension playing on a Friday night as players will be coming from work as opposed to having the morning off, but it’a good test. We want to see how they fare against a side at a higher level.”

The All Blacks have lost just a handful of games over the last couple of seasons, and Westren wants to see how they respond.

He said: “Not being expected to win will be different for us, but we’ll need to get used to it as we’re not going to be favourites going into most games, unlike last year. The thought processes will be different as we’re likely to have to do much more defending, so it’ll be interesting to see how the boys’ decision making reacts to that.

“But if we can put into practice against Redruth what we’ve been doing in training, then we’ll be happy, the results aren’t important in pre-season.”

Kick-off at Polson Bridge is at 7.30pm with entry being free.

However there will be bucket collections to raise money for North Tawton RFC captain Craig Dennis, who was recently left paralysed from the waist down following an accident at his parents’ farm.

If you would like to donate to Craig’s cause, visit https://www.gofundme.com/smn3qr-craigs-recovery