Saturday, January 4

South West Premier

Cornish All Blacks 20

LAUNCESTON made it three wins on the bounce in the South West Premier after a 20-16 victory over mid-table Ivybridge at Polson Bridge on Saturday.

The hosts started much the better side and led 10-0 before the visitors replied with 11 unanswered points before the break.

However Ryan Westren’s converted try and another Dan Pearce penalty put them nine points clear.

A thrilling finale, which saw Tom Scoles add a second try, ended with the visitors thinking they had scored. However, referee Tom Evans-Jones ruled that it had been held up and the hosts breathed a massive sigh of relief.

Joint head coaches Ian Goldsmith and Westren named an unchanged side from the 19-17 victory at Exmouth a fortnight earlier, which meant a 200th league start for the club for skipper Lloyd Duke. The only alterations to the squad coming on the bench as Tom Sandercock and Dan Goldsmith replaced Dom Mulberry, who has gone travelling, and the injured Gary Gynn.

When the two sides met in Devon back in September, Ivybridge cruised to a comprehensive 69-14 victory.

But the All Blacks are a different animal having acclimatised to the division, and flew out of the blocks.

After a couple of brakes a penalty was awarded which was kicked deep into the Ivybridge 22. After more pressure, a scrum was awarded, which the visitors were unable to stop legally, meaning Evans-Jones gave the penalty try on seven minutes.

The All Blacks edged further in front on 13 minutes as Pearce kicked a penalty, which came following a good move down the right from Westren and Pearce.

The visitors have won at leaders Barnstaple and second-placed Maidenhead already this term and went into the game having scored the most points in the division apart from Exeter University.

Their attacking prowess was evident on 19 minutes as a brilliant crossfield kick from fly-half Matt Grieveson found Scoles just inside the Launceston half. The right-winger burst past covering full-back Alfie Lang on the outside to run in for a superb try.

Grieveson missed the conversion.

Pearce almost instantly hit back when he chipped over the top of winger Ben Fenton. But outside-centre Charlie Briant got around to cover and snuff out the danger.

Ivybridge gradually started to get on top and Grieveson slotted a simple penalty.

The hosts were given a big let-off on the half hour as prop Jay Geraty knocked on with a clear run to the line in the pipeline.

However another simple Grieveson penalty put the Greens 11-10 up.

Evans-Jones was soon forced to speak to both captains after a couple of scuffles broke out, but the visitors got through to half-time in front.

The opening ten minutes of the second-half saw both sides battle away, although visiting flanker Robin Luscombe was forced off with a shoulder injury.

Launceston gradually started to build some momentum and retook the lead as Westren took a pass from Adam Collings and found a gap in the visiting defence to run in unopposed from 30 metres.

Pearce maintained his excellent kicking with the conversion to make it 17-11.

Sandercock was brought on for Alfie Lang on 55 minutes and the hosts went further in front before the hour through Pearce’s penalty.

Ivybridge were finding the home defence impossible to get through but set up a grandstand finish with five minutes to go as the impressive Scoles dotted down in front of the clubhouse.

Grieveson’s conversion went wide right, meaning they needed a try to win it.

The visitors were awarded a penalty and kicked for the corner with the intention of using their excellent driving maul. The lineout was secured and it looked inevitable that they were going to score. However Duke had no option but to bring it down illegally and be sin-binned.

Ivybridge went for a scrum and it appeared they had scored, but Evans-Jones deemed that it had been held up. From the next phase, Ivybridge were inches away once more, but Evans-Jones then penalised them for holding on, giving Launceston a penalty.

The scrum stayed strong, which allowed Collings to pass to Glenn Coles, who booted the ball out of play to bring an end to a fantastic contest.

The result meant they moved above Exmouth into tenth and seven points clear of second bottom Bracknell, who have two games in-hand.

Westren said: “We said before the game that the two wins before Christmas would mean nothing if we didn’t back it up with another one. In the space of three games we’ve put some real pressure on the teams around us. Taking other teams out of it, it’s also really good for us to get two of those wins against sides who gave us a real trouncing earlier in the season.

“That’s really good for our mindset as the boys can see the progression we’ve made. The hard work is now paying off.

“We’ve stuck to what we believe in and it’s starting to show through. We’ve put ourselves in a position now where we’re not looking up all the time. We’ve given ourselves a springboard to push on and try to catch the teams above us.”

Westren believes the opening 15 minutes was the difference.

He said: “We started the game really well. We spoke before the game that we need to get a foothold early and we did that. We were in control but then a moment of brilliance from them was the turning point and they got back into it. Both teams had ebbs and flows but it was our start which won it for us.

“I also thought we handled the second-half pretty well through field position and keeping the scoreboard ticking over. We ground out a result against a side who are well-established within the league.

“We need to carry this form and momentum we’ve built to take us home and secure our league status over the back end of the season.”

Westren admitted it was a real team effort, but had high praise for flanker Harry Lightfoot.

He said: “Harry was everywhere, it was a typical Harry Lightfoot performance. He made tackle after tackle, when you have a player with that work-rate, people feed off that.

“But again it was a really good team performance. The last thing we’d want to be doing is relying on a couple of players.”

The All Blacks have a bye this weekend due to the odd number of teams in the division, before making the trip to Berkshire to take on Maidenhead next Saturday.

Westren said: “We’ll make sure we train hard. There’s pluses to anything, we can get rid of any knocks we have and make sure we’re ready. It’s not the easiest place to go, especially on the artificial, but with the three wins in the bank we can go there with no pressure and throw everything at it.”

Cornish All Blacks —

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

Replacements: Bartlett, Goldsmith, Sandercock.

Tries: penalty try, Westren.

Convs: Pearce.

Pens: Pearce 2.

Cornish All Blacks’ man-of-the-match: Harry Lightfoot.