Saturday, October 20

Tribute South West One (West)

Bridgwater & Albion 33

Cornish All Blacks 60

WILL Morton and Torin Clarke both scored hat-tricks as the Cornish All Blacks headed into their 70th anniversary game at home on Saturday top of the table after a thrilling victory at fellow high-flyers Bridgwater & Albion.

Supporters would have made the trip up the M5 even more confident of a Launceston victory as a number of key players returned from injury, meaning they had an almost full-strength squad for the first time since the opening couple of games.

In the front five, Chae Jenkins and Andy Knight returned from concussion and a damaged shoulder in place of Sam Snell and Ed Dudden while Levent Bulut replaced Jordan Duke at hooker. In the back-row, George Bone was preferred to Brandon Rowley, who played for the seconds.

In the backs, their was just one change as the fit again Reuben Edwards started at full-back in place of Dan Pearce, who started on the bench.

The home line-up included former Polson Bridge favourites Wayne Sprangle and Richard Bright, who make up part of the coaching staff at the North Somerset club.

Knight has missed a number of weeks but it didn’t take him long to get back into the swing of things as he scored after four minutes following a driving maul.

Within a couple of minutes the All Blacks doubled their advantage as Martin Kneebone was given the simplest of tasks to score from the Bridgwater 22 after fly-half Glenn Coles had made an excellent interception and run.

The game continued at a frenetic pace with the home side, who themselves went into the game in second, next to score on ten minutes. Fly-half Stuart Heal scythed through the Cornish defence from 15 metres to touch down. He then converted.

Any chance of a home fightback was quickly snuffed out as Morton grabbed his first of the day in a classic counter-attack.

Kneebone went on a rampaging run down the left-wing and managed to offload to player/coach Ryan Westren in support some 15 metres out.

About to be dumped into touch, Westren showed plenty of skill to throw it like a hooker over the defender for the onrushing Morton to score unopposed from ten metres out.

Bridgwater had lost just once all season but the All Blacks made them pay for any chance given to them.

On 20 minutes, Clarke grabbed his first of the day. After hooker Levent Bulut was held up over the line, the resulting five-metre scrum proved too tough for the hosts to handle and Clarke had the simple task of picking the ball up at the base to score. Coles converted and they led 26-7 with just a quarter of the game gone.

They scored their fifth try before the half-hour mark as prop Jenkins finished off a short lineout routine from five metres out.

At 33-7 down, Bridgwater needed to score next to have any chance and again it was Heal who was involved.

He manoeuvered his way through again from 30 metres out before he was tackled by Edwards close to the line.

But skipper Ollie Dunn got to the ruck first and crashed over from close range. Heal converted to reduce the deficit to 19 points.

However the All Blacks’ advantage was soon restored. Coles’ kick deep into the Bridgwater 22, was surprisingly taken quickly.

But the visitors got men up quickly and the ball was played to Bone who was held up just short.

But they went left and ended with Clarke having the simplest task to score on the line and send Launceston into half-time with a 38-14 advantage.

While Clarke’s first two tries were simple, his hat-trick was brilliant.

With the home backs looking to play wide, the number eight was alert enough to read a pass and then show his pace to run 60 metres to score under the posts. However Coles hit the upright with the easiest of kicks.

To the home side’s credit they kept battling away and scored their third try when Dunn scrambled over the line after taking a quick tap-penalty.

But the All Blacks’ attacking prowess continues to improve each week and Morton grabbed his second on the hour following a good move. Coles converted and Launceston had 50 points on the board.

Bridgwater full-back Will Monro is dangerous with ball in-hand and he eventually got his reward for an impressive performance with ten minutes to go. Multiple phases led to the ball being played out to Monro to score in the corner.

He did the same thing with seconds to go after Coles added a penalty.

At 53-33, the Cornishmen could have run the clock down in the last play of the game but instead added a ninth try.

Replacement Sam Snell went on a barnstorming run before being tackled. Good hands involving Bone, Lloyd Duke, Shaun Crawford and Westren eventually allowed Morton to score in the right-hand corner and give him his first hat-trick in an All Blacks shirt since his summer move from Saltash and give Launceston a 60-point haul before they welcome Hornets to Polson Bridge on Saturday.

Reflecting on the game, skipper Lloyd Duke admitted it was a strange game.

He said: “We went up there confident as we were as full-strength as we could be, but we certainly didn’t expect to score 60 points.

“We talked about at the start of the season that last year Exeter Uni and Drybrook were very good at punishing mistakes and Saturday was the most effective we’ve been at it. Every time Bridgwater made a mistake, we’d kick the ball 50 metres or score. We were pretty ruthless in making them pay.”

tries and two set-piece tries. It wasn’t a game where we had to string together five or six phases to score. It was a funny game really.”

On Saturday, they welcome fourth-placed Hornets to North Cornwall and Duke knows it’s a big day.

He said: “Any time you have a good result like we did against Bridgwater, you have to back it up the following week, so regardless of who we’re playing against we’ll be determined to put in a good performance.

“We played them a couple of years ago and they’ve been going along alright. But I don’t think they’ve played any of the top three yet. It’s going to be a hard game but in front of a big crowd and in front of ex players we can get the job done.”

Saturday night could be pretty lively if things go well on the field, and Duke is hoping for as big a crowd as possible.

He said: “As a team we’d like to celebrate this occasion, so please as many of you as you can, come down and have a good afternoon and evening. We’d really appreciate your support.”

Cornish All Blacks —

Edwards, Morton, Westren, Crawford, Kneebone, Coles, Collings; Bentham, Bulut, Jenkins, Williams, Knight, L Duke (captain), Bone, Clarke

Replacements: J Duke, Snell, Pearce

Tries: Knight, Kneebone, Morton 3, Clarke 3, Jenkins

Convs: Coles 6

Pens: Coles

Cornish All Blacks’ man-of-the-match: Torin Clarke