Saturday, November 9

South West Premier

Cornish All Blacks 5

Barnstaple 36

THE Cornish All Blacks fell to their third defeat of the season at Polson Bridge on Saturday, going down 36-5 to new leaders Barnstaple.

Although a brilliant team try finished off by Dan Pearce gave the hosts a fourth-minute lead, Barum soon hit back and scored twice more before the break.

Three further tries after half-time gave the North Devon side a bonus point as they moved back to the top of the table with a game in-hand on second-placed Weston-super-Mare, who were beaten 22-0 at Maidenhead.

Meanwhile, the All Blacks sit third bottom, a point above Brixham.

Coaches Ian Goldsmith and Ryan Goldsmith made five changes from the side that lost 32-12 at Weston-super-Mare a fortnight previously.

With forwards Harry Lightfoot, Tom Bottoms, Gary Gynn and Dan Goldsmith all injured and Joe Stansfield at university, Dom Theobald was given a start at blindside-flanker, while Chris Macdonald made his first appearance since September after injury at lock and Rory Cinnamond was preferred to Greg Thomas at tighthead-prop.

The backline saw two changes as Martin Kneebone and Shaun Crawford were recalled on the wing and at outside-centre.

Kneebone missed their last league outing due to the impending birth of his child and replaced the injured Alfie Lang, which meant that Reuben Edwards, who played for the Exeter Chiefs Academy in midweek at Devonport Services, started at full-back.

Crawford started in the midfield in place of Tom Sandercock who joined Thomas and Alex Bartlett amongst the replacements.

Despite the awful conditions, there was still a 500-plus strong crowd, including a decent following from North Devon, and they were treated to a superb team try inside four minutes through Pearce.

The hosts picked up the ball just outside their own 22 and flung the ball wide. Edwards galloped forward and as he was tackled on halfway, superbly offloaded to Kneebone who then ran 30-metres before passing to Pearce on the outside who was never going to be stopped in a one-on-one.

Pearce’s conversion veered left but the CABs were 5-0 ahead.

Within the first 20 minutes the All Blacks gave away a succession of penalties, which the visitors profited from twice.

First, outside-centre Will Topps dotted down as did number eight Jake Childs, who proved too tough to stop from close-range. Full-back Kyran McManus, who had earlier missed an incredibly easy penalty, converted both.

The rest of the first-half was disjointed with the visitors dominating possession without looking particularly threatening thanks to good Launceston defence, while the hosts often coughed up possession too quickly when they got it as they were penalised by referee Max Weston for holding on.

Just as it looked like the hosts would get into half-time just nine points down, disaster struck.

Another penalty was conceded which was kicked deep into the All Blacks’ 22. Barum secured the lineout and the driving maul was powered over the line with Nat Bayet the scorer. McManus missed the kick.

Barnstaple were smart with the conditions and kept the ball in close the majority of the time.

They grabbed their bonus point try on 46 minutes as prop Martinas Dromantas powered over.

The hosts were finding it difficult to get past the Devon side but did manage to keep the score down to 26-5 before the last six minutes as with McManus off injured, fly-half Haydn Lidstone slotted a simple penalty and then inside-centre Ryan Carter intercepted a pass from Coles to run in unopposed. Lidstone converted as Barnstaple left Polson Bridge with five points to their name ahead of their big clash with Maidenhead at Pottington Road on Saturday.

The All Blacks have a crucial clash at fellow strugglers Bracknell (2.15pm).

Player/coach Ryan Westren admitted that their inability to keep on the right side of the law proved crucial.

He said: “It was disappointing to get on the wrong side of the referee early on as that makes it really hard to get decisions. It’s something we need to work on as it can hurt you come the end of the game.

“But we lost the game on our penalty count and inability to keep hold of the ball. Those were the type of conditions that whoever kept the ball was going to win.

“Since the first three games we’ve controlled the ball well, but on a day like that there were always going to be a higher number of turnovers than normal, but we coughed up the ball too much and gave them too many opportunities.

“The conditions were the same for both sides so we need to manage the conditions better, especially in the first ten minutes of the second-half where we gave them too much field position.

“From their kick-off for the second-half we got turned over and that wasn’t good enough, it set the tone for the rest of the game.

“Our defence has improved no end and the tries they did score weren’t from broken play or their brilliance. We only missed 15 tackles throughout the game, but it was the loss of possession or turnovers (19) which was where the game was won and lost.”

Despite the result, there were elements he was pleased with.

He said: “They’re at the other end of the spectrum in that they’re looking towards the top of the league and have been together for a long time. That said, I do think that on another day the scoreline could have been different. There wasn’t that much between the two teams.”

Westren was also full of praise for Cinnamond and number eight Brandon Rowley.

He said: “Rory Cinnamond was sensational. His tackling and his carrying was great and apart from one knock-on, was mistake-free all game. He certainly led the way.

“Brandon was also really good, like he has been for the last four or five weeks. We all know what he can do in an attacking sense but he also put his body on the line defensively.”

Attention now turns to the big game in Berkshire this Saturday.

Bracknell lost 36-0 at Ivybridge at the weekend but have won two of their last three games at home.

They sit one point and one place above Launceston in the table, and the significance of the game isn’t lost on Westren.

He said: “It’s a totally different challenge to the last couple of games and our excitement and nervous energy should be heightened for this one.

“If we win on Saturday then that’s four, maybe five points for us and four points they can’t get which is at least an eight-point swing in one day.

“It’s obviously a game we’ve targeted. It was apparent early on that this was going to be a big fixture, so now we’re in game week, we’ll be doing everything we can to make sure we’re prepared to go up there and get the result we want.

“They’ve got a really combative hooker and a good second row who we’ll have to keep under wraps, but they’re in a similar position to us in that they’re scrapping for every point they can.

“That means that every team is dangerous and form for these sort of games go out the window. “We’re not silly enough to think they won’t have targeted this game as well. It’ll be different than in recent weeks, and potentially more hostile.”

Westren wants his side to make sure they look after the ball better.

He said: “From a defensive point of view we want to keep improving but I want to see a bit more ball security like we have in the last month or so, and if we do I’m confident we’ll come out on the right side of the result.

“But with where both sides are in the table, both sides will get opportunities. Whichever side takes them will come out on top.”

Cornish All Blacks —

Edwards, Pearce, Crawford, Westren, Kneebone, Coles, Mulberry, Bentham, Bulut, Cinnamond, Macdonald, Clarke, Theobald, L Duke (captain), Rowley.

Replacements: Thomas, Bartlett, Sandercock.

Tries: Pearce.

Convs: N/A.

Pens: N/A.

Cornish All Blacks’ man-of-the-match: Rory Cinnamond.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Launceston seconds were 19-14 winners at their Wadebridge counterparts in the Duchy League.

David Parish, Richard Jasper and former Wadebridge man Adam Collings were the try-scorers with Ben Hawke slotting two conversions.