Saturday, January 5

Tribute South West One (West)

Cornish All Blacks 37

North Petherton 27

THE Cornish All Blacks are now six points clear at the top of Tribute South West One (West) table after overcoming a stiff examination by North Petherton at Polson Bridge.

The All Blacks battled back from 17-13 down at half-time to win 37-27, and were left delighted by the news that nearest rivals Okehampton had lost 20-7 at Keynsham ahead of the first versus second showdown at The Showfield on Saturday (2.30pm).

Joint head coaches Ryan Westren and Ian Goldsmith made two changes from the side that started at Newent in their final league games before Christmas, as Andy Knight and Will Morton, who both went off injured early on in the defeat in Gloucestershire, failed to recover with Harry Lightfoot called up for his first start of the season at blindside-flanker, while Dan Pearce was recalled on the right-wing.

In perfect conditions for this time of year, the All Blacks took a fifth minute lead through a Glenn Coles penalty before the visitors’ dangerous pack showed their teeth.

On nine minutes, a penalty was kicked to the right-hand corner where a driving maul was set up and skipper Arron Gibbs was rolled over the line.

The All Blacks defence was looking vulnerable every time ‘Pethy’ got the ball, although they were soon given a helping hand themselves.

As the visiting backs looks to spread the ball wide some ten metres from their own line, Coles showed tremendous anticipation to intercept the pass and run in for the All Blacks’ first league try of the new year.

However, their generosity was repaid on 17 minutes as Westren’s pass was intercepted by centre Dominik Griffin, who ran in from 25 metres to put them 10-8 up.

With both sides looking vulnerable, the game flowed from one end to another. The All Blacks, despite playing poorly, went back in front on 31 minutes as after a great run from replacement full-back Tom Sandercock was stopped, a brilliant long pass from Coles was seized upon by left-winger Martin Kneebone, who showed plenty of strength and determination to hold off a couple of tacklers and dot down in the far corner. Coles missed his second consecutive conversion.

But ‘the Oaks’ ensured a shock half-time lead as former Exeter Chiefs back Nic Sestaret scored from close-range following an excellent tackle by Sandercock, who had earlier come on for the injured Reuben Edwards. For the first time in the match, a try was converted to make it 17-13 at half-time.

The All Blacks were clearly given a stern talking to as they started the second-half in much better fashion. However, they had to wait until the 52nd minute for their third try, as a series and pick and gos was finished off by the impressive Greg Thomas. This time Coles converted.

But within two minutes North Petherton were again in front and it was their skipper who was to the fore.

A long kick from Adam Collings was picked up by Gibbs just outside of his 22. He then proceeded to go on a remarkable 60-metre run almost untouched before playing in inside-centre Jon Gallagher for the easiest of finishes.

North Petherton’s failure to add the extras again proved costly, despite the try moving them into a 22-20 lead.

With less than 25 minutes to go the All Blacks faithful were getting edgy. But they need not have worried as North Petherton’s hooker twice gifted them tries by failing to throw five-metre lineouts straight.

On 58 minutes, the All Blacks elected to go for a lineout following the error and Collings dotted down.

The next 15 minutes saw Launceston continue to use their kicking game to great effect with the half-back partnership of Collings and Coles to the fore. They used their nous to continually kick the ball deep into the North Petherton 22.

The All Blacks’ fifth try came from a result of this, as another lineout was deemed as unstraight by referee Nigel Boyd, and Thomas eventually barged his way over for his second.

With just three minutes remaining, the All Blacks sensibly chose to slot an easy penalty to put them 15 points in front at 37-22.

And they would have been delighted they had done, as constant North Petherton pressure was rewarded as replacement forward Aiden Cotton touched down in the left corner with seconds remaining. Again the kick was missed and the game was over.

Despite the patchy performance, Westren believes they’ll only get better ahead of this weekend’s vital match, which if the All Blacks win by five points and stop Okehampton getting a bonus point, would see them open up an 11-point cushion with ten games to go.

He said: “There’s lots to work on but it was a classic case of a game of rugby after three weeks off. The biggest positive is that we’ve had 80 minutes to work the rust off and have a competitive run-out.

“In the long run, we’ll be better for it and it should focus our minds. Fair play to North Petherton, they’re a very willing side and made us work hard.

“We improved in the second-half when we played in the right areas. In the first-half we spent too much time defending our territory but then in the second-half we camped ourselves in their half and put pressure on them, and in the end we came away with the scores.

“There were a few choice words said at half-time. A lot of the problems came from ourselves by doing uncharacteristic things. We addressed that and started to play a bit like our old selves.”

Although the All Blacks’ defence isn’t anywhere near as watertight as last season, Westren believes his squad are getting there.

He said: “We need to tighten a few things up but that’s the same for every side. There’s no getting away from the fact that we’ve conceded some points this year but it comes down to individual accountability at the end of the day. A lot of our issues came from playing too much in our own area and in the second-half we played in the right areas. What we can’t do is have spells where we’ve put ourselves under pressure as well as the spells when they’ve actually put us under pressure!

“But I don’t want to be too hard on the boys. I like the fact we’ve got five points and we’re still picking holes despite coming with a win.

“We know that when we do get it right we can be another 25% better which is a great place to be.”

Westren was full of praise for four of his players.

He said: “Greg Thomas is a huge asset to have back, we’ve missed him. Tom Sandercock also did really well when he came on and the half-backs (Collings and Coles) controlled the game well in the second-half and put is in the right areas of the field.”

Westren is fully aware of the difference a win on Saturday would make in the long run, but is more interested in reversing the result at Polson Bridge in September when Okehampton won 17-10.

He said: “Our aim, with them being 20 miles up the road is to win. But first and foremost, we need to keep improving and put in a performance. I’m a big believer in that if you get your performance right, the result usually follows.

“Them slipping up on Saturday will make our task that much harder. They came down here and did the job. They starved us of possession which not many teams have been able to do. They’ve got a good set-piece and scrum and have some dominant ball carriers.

“We’ve got to front up and duel with them, otherwise we’ll be putting ourselves under a lot of pressure like we did at home!”

Cornish All Blacks —

Edwards, Pearce, Westren, Crawford, Kneebone, Coles, Collings; Bentham, Bulut, Jenkins, Goldsmith Clarke, Lightfoot, L Duke (captain), Rowley

Replacements: Thomas, J Duke, Sandercock

Tries: Coles, Kneebone, Thomas 2, Collings

Convs: Coles 3

Pens: Coles 2

Cornish All Blacks’ man-of-the-match: Greg Thomas