IT WAS a case of after the Lord Mayor’s Show for Launceston Under 16s as they lost 52-0 at Barnstaple last Sunday.

The week before they started their 2017/18 season with an impressive 66-5 victory at Wadebridge but found the North Devon side a totally different proposition.

The visitors were still on a high from last week’s win, looking smart and ready to go with 18 players.

Launceston set out from the beginning to work on their defensive and attacking structure.

The game was even for the first ten minutes of the game until Barnstaple went out wide to score in the corner. Launceston gave it all they had to keep the defensive line solid but conceded four further tries to go in 25-0 down at the break.

In a bid to try and make a difference, Joe D, Asher and Josh B were brought on at half-time and they got off to a powerful start, defending very well and keeping their team sprit strong.

But Barnstaple soon scored a sixth try to make it 30-0.

Launceston continued to battle away and were close to scoring but lost the ball near the 22 and Barnstaple broke away for another try.

The North Devon side added three more tries and a conversion before the end as they cruised to victory.