National League Three South West

Cornish All Blacks 24

THE Cornish All Blacks’ 17-year stay in National League rugby came to an end in Gloucestershire last Saturday as another late try cost them dear in a 27-24 defeat at Lydney, who in the process confirmed their safety.

Following relegation from National Two South, the Polson-based outfit knew they were going to be in for another tough season. But, despite three wins from four in January and a vast improvement in performances, a slow start to the campaign has proved extremely costly as they’re now 11 points from safety with just two games remaining.

The All Blacks named an unchanged team for the must-win trip to take on the team directly above them in the table and they started well as Fraser Honey’s early penalty put them 3-0 ahead.

However, tries from Kurt Brown and Jack Ward, one of which was converted by Danny Openshaw, put the home side 12-3 up midway through the first-half.

Despite trailing, Jimmy Tucker’s side were playing well and went into the break in front.

Prop Rikki Bentham bundled his way over fora try before an excellent individual effort from winger Harry Dawe put the Cornishmen 17-12 up.

Openshaw’s penalty reduced the arrears to just two points at the start of the second-half before the All Blacks’ powerful forwards earned a penalty try on 52 minutes, which Honey slotted over with ease.

In recent weeks the All Blacks have lost from winning positions and the alarm bells started to ring when number eight John Barker touched down.

With 13 minutes to go the momentum of the game changed.

Visiting captain Lloyd Duke was sin-binned for an infringement at the breakdown and just a minute later the home side went in front as they scored their fourth try.

Despite their best efforts to get back in the game, the All Blacks’ afternoon went from bad to worse when after Duke returned to the fray, prop Andy Knight was sent-off for punching.

In the end, no score was forthcoming as the All Blacks now prepare for life in South West One.

Head of rugby Jimmy Tucker admits that a failure to convert their chances has cost them dear.

Tucker said: “It was as good a performance as we’ve put in all season but yet again we’ve lost. We’ve been involved in a lot of tight games but we’ve messed up way too many chances and that’s what’s cost us our place in this league.

“I can’t point my finger at one exact thing as to why we’ve gone down. We haven’t lacked one particular ingredient and all of the players have put their heart and soul into it but when you don’t score when in your control of the game it’s eventually going to come back to haunt you.

“However on Saturday it was a case of Lydney coming back into the game through their own good play. We didn’t do much wrong but at the moment everyone is feeling a bit low. But we’ve got two games left and we want to finish on a high. We don’t want to go into the summer with a couple of losses to our name so we’ve got to regroup at training, which I know the boys will do and look forward to playing Cleve on Saturday.

“Although they’re comfortably in mid-table and are very good at home, they don’t travel very well at all so it’s a game we can definitely pick up points from.”

Although relegation is still incredibly raw, Tucker doesn’t want to think about his own future until the end of the season.

Tucker continued: “It’s quite sobering to think that we’ve gone down but we’ve got these two games to play and then we’ll sit down and work out how we move forward and into next season.

“We want to put on a performance for the fans on Saturday and try and reward them for their support.

“We really appreciated the excellent support on Saturday at Lydney. When we came out to warm up, their was lots of noise from the under 13s who were on tour and also a fair few car loads had come up to watch us so I’d like to say thank you to them.”

Kick-off for Saturday’s game at home to Cleve is at 3pm.

Cornish All Blacks:

Kneebone, Dawe, Westren, Sandercock, Edwards, Honey, Stevens; Bentham, Bulut, Thomas, Williams, J Duke, Rowley, L Duke, McDonald

Subs: Knight, Crabb, Faamatuainu

Tries: Bentham, Dawe, Penalty Try

Convs: Honey 3

Pen: Honey