Cornish All Blacks 16

Salisbury 11

By Suzanne Cleave

There were tears of joy at Polson on Saturday, as the Cornish All Blacks won their first game in 18 months by beating Salisbury 16-11 in National League Three South West.

It was a nailbiting clash, with the All Blacks in the lead from half-time, but the visitors were close on their heels. The home side upped their game, to score a brilliant try from Martin Kneebone before defending for dear life to clinch a much needed and long awaited victory.

Fighting back tears, player-coach, Ryan Westren, said: "We played some cracking rugby and we got a win. I never expected to feel like that today. “Everyone’s over the moon. Jimmy hasn’t been sleeping at night, everyone’s had their doubt. People are still questioning it, but this is a five to ten-year thing, but the feeling in the camp is unreal.

"A lot of the boys I played with over ten years have got up and left. Today this is for the boys that have stuck through it. They’ve been chucked in at the deep end and they’ve come here every Tuesday and Thursday and didn’t win a game. People have doubted us and said we don’t want it enough, but we do."

The All Blacks had a good first half and took the lead through Fraser Honey’s drop-goal in the 11th minute.

Salisbury’s Robbie Keith took a penalty shortly after, but missed, before the visitors were temporarily reduced to 14-men when Tom Ranaboldo was given ten minutes in the sin bin, giving the All Blacks the opportunity to increase their lead but possession was lost.

Launceston did continue to apply the pressure and Honey took another good penalty kick, increasing the home side’s score to six.

The All Blacks were playing with conviction, but they found themselves on the defence for the first time.

A penalty was awarded to Salisbury and Robbie Keith kicked it through the posts right on half-time to reduce the All Blacks’ lead to 6-3.

Both sides exchanged penalties early on in the second 40 through Honey and Keith to make it 9-6.

The All Blacks had a dip in concentration, with a few silly mistakes made. They needed to rally round, and they soon did with 20 minutes to go.

The ball was passed out wide, splitting the Salisbury pack wide apart to allow Martin Kneebone to touch down for his second try of the season. Honey converted.

At 16-6, the All Blacks had a comfortable lead but were down to 14 men when Jordan Duke received a yellow card. Salisbury easily pushed the home defence over after a lineout, with replacement Daniel Bennett scoring the try. The conversion was missed.

Salisbury were literally camped on the All Blacks’ try line for the last 15 minutes of the second-half. They had a fight on their hands to keep the visitors from scoring. Everyone was on the edge of their seats as the All Blacks gave away a couple of penalties. Salisbury came close to scoring but the referee said the ball was held up. A couple of scrums and lineouts followed, and fortunately for Launceston the Salisbury throw in wasn’t straight and the home side were out of danger.

As the game went into injury time, the All Blacks had to hold on.

But once Honey grabbed the ball and kicked the ball out, the referee blew the whistle on a great game of rugby, and a momentous win for the home side.

Westren added: "The fight in the team is immense, they were camped on our line for the last 15 minutes. It showed our true fight at the end. I’m over the moon. Losing was such a habit but to break that was massive, not just for the young lads but for the coaching staff. It’s heart and passion and now we’ve got that win we’ll hopefully kick on. One thing that Launceston has always had is heart and we will fight till the end. I’ve won big games before but I don’t think any game has made me feel like this."

Cornish All Blacks

Kneebone, Morris, Westren, Faamatuainu, Dawe, Honey, Sandercock, Hurdwell, Bulut (Hocking 73), Parsons, Merritt (Williams 69), Duke J, Uglow (Parish 29), Duke L, Williams (Uglow 49).

Replacements not used: Tharme

Tries: Kneebone (60)

Convs: Honey (61)

Pens: Honey (28) (43)

Drop goal: Honey (11)

Salisbury

Bowden, Goldsmith, Kaminski, Larcombe (Loader 60), Hammond, Keith, Tonge, Gill, Blackborow (Hill 50), Williamson (Backborow 68), Best, Ranaboldo (Bennett 64), Green, Dawson, Gilbert.

Tries: Bennett (73)

Convs:

Pens: Keith (40) (47)

Referee: Adam Wookey

Man of match: The Launceston squad

Attendance: 321

Next match: Camborne (A) Saturday, October 1 (3pm)