THE Cornish All Blacks fell to their first defeat in four games last Saturday as they lost 34-15 at promotion-chasing Drybrook.

The Gloucestershire-based club only led 10-3 at half-time but pulled away in the second-half despite brilliant tries from Lloyd Duke and Tom Sandercock to leave Jimmy Tucker’s men in fourth.

There was a surprise name among the All Blacks starting 15 as Ben Hawke returned from injury on the wing for Harry Dawe, who was injured at training, while Reuben Edwards replaced Martin Kneebone, who was still suffering the effects of his knock against Cullompton.

The rest of the side was unchanged and it paid off in the opening 20 minutes as both sides fought well without getting on the scoresheet.

Drybrook did take the lead on 22 minutes as bindside-flanker Sam Peaper spotted a gap in the All Blacks defence to score before full-back Tom Treherne converted.

The rest of the half was more of the same with the All Blacks competing well but failing to take any of the half chances that came their way.

However, both sides did trade penalties with Treherne and full-back Dan Pearce ensuring that the second-placed home side led 10-3 at the break.

The All Blacks knew that they very much in with a shout of becoming the first team to defeat Drybrook since the opening day of the season but their lack of killer instinct proved decisive.

The home side scored quick tries through inside-centre Danny Price after he was played in by Ben Large before excellent work involving the forwards allowed fly-half Large to receive a pass from Matt Baldwin to increase the lead to 19 points.

At 22-3 down the All Blacks needed some magic, and as often is the case, it came from the flying Dan Pearce.

The full-back ran onto his chip over the Drybrook defence and was tackled just metres from the line. After a couple of scrums, the All Blacks were awarded a penalty, which allowed skipper Lloyd Duke to take a quick tap and go and clamber over the line. Pearce converted to make it 22-10.

With more than 20 minutes to go, there was still plenty of time for more tries.

However, Drybrook scored two more in quick succession through Treherne and number eight Mitch Bourne to put the game out of the All Blacks’ reach.

Despite knowing the game was over, the All Blacks scored a scintillating try.

A kick over the top from halfway by Hawke was taken on the full by Sandercock, who offloaded to Brandon Rowley, who in turn, returned the favour to the rampaging Hawke. Hawke looked destined to score but as he was tackled, he offloaded to Sandercock to go over in the corner.

The rest of the game passed off without much incident as Drybrook made it 11 wins on the spin while the All Blacks prepare for a mouthwatering clash with leaders Exeter University at Polson Bridge on Saturday (2.30pm).

Duke said he was pleased with the performance but admitted they need to become more clinical.

He said: “The first-half was fairly even. But they had two chances to score and did while we had three or four decent situations and only came away with a penalty.

“At half-time we said we’ve created as much as them but we talked about being clinical.

“Even after we scored our first try we were still confident, but once they scored those quick tries that was sort of it.

“In the end, the difference was that one team took their chances and one didn’t. We let them off the hook, the scoreline doesn’t reflect the game.

“Two of their four second-half tries came from our mistakes where we didn’t tackle well enough.

“Speaking after, if we’re being honest we were just 5% off them. We had as many chances as them but the difference between a good team and a great team or successful team is that you’ve got to be clinical.

“The positive is that we created chances and upped our level significantly from the Cullompton game but the negative is that we have to learn to take them. It’s sort of been the story of our season. We’ve not been a high scoring team but it’s because three or four good chances a game seem to be wasted. At some point we have to learn to put those chances away but once we do we’re going to be a very difficult team to beat.”

The thought of taking on league leaders Exeter University on Saturday may scare many teams in South West One (West), however Duke is looking forward to seeing how they cope with a trip to Polson Bridge.

He said: “It’s probably an even harder game for us but we take great pride in playing at home and we want to continue our unbeaten home record.

“We’ve talked about the game a fair bit and we’ve all got the mentality that we can beat them so we’re all really looking forward to Saturday.”

One player who’ll especially be keen for the game if selected is Ben Hawke. The winger has been out for a number of months through injury but Duke was delighted to see him back.

He said: “It was great to see Ben back playing. He was supposed to be on the bench but Harry Dawe got injured at training and pulled out while Martin Kneebone was still injured.

“Thankfully, I don’t think we picked up any injuries at?Drybrook and we’re hoping that Harry and Martin will be available on Saturday. Andy Knight had to work on the weekend again but I think he should be back as well.

“We’ve got a lot of competition for places for the first time in a while so lets hope we can start with a win on Saturday.”