THE Cornish All Blacks remain 11 points from safety after suffering a 36-16 defeat at the hands of Hornets at Polson Bridge.

It was an exasperating game to watch, and even more so for the Launceston players on the pitch, who were, yet again, camped out on the Hornets’ try line for a large part of the game, with no reward.

However, they now go into the Christmas break having just 12 games to turn their season around and avoid a second consecutive relegation.

The All Blacks started brightly and took a 6-0 lead through two well taken Fraser Honey penalties.

Hornets were down to 14-men after captain Chris Francis was given ten minutes in the sin bin.

Despite the player deficit, Hornets got hold of the ball and made a swift journey down the right wing to set up an easy try for scrum-half Conor Littlewood, which was converted by Charlie Carter.

Shortly after, play was dangerously close to the All Blacks’ try line, and a wayward ball was missed by the All Blacks, but picked up by Danny Bailey who tapped it over the line for an unconverted try.

The Cornish All Blacks had a number of opportunities to score, spending a lot of time in the Hornets’ half but, despite their efforts, they struggled to get over the line.

The Hornets were playing textbook rugby in attack, passing the ball down the line while splitting the All Blacks’ defence wide apart with ease.

Carter dodged a tackle from the All Blacks to score a try for the visitors, which he also converted.

Honey notched up another three points for the All Blacks following a penalty awarded to them for a Hornets’ high tackle to make it 19-9 to the visitors.

The home side showed some real fire in their bellies in a serious attempt to score. A massive effort to cross the line was made, but again the Hornets’ defence was steadfast.

However the pressure eventually told. The ball was passed out to Harry Dawe who scored a try, which was converted by Honey.

The All Blacks trailed by just three points, giving the supporters hope of a turnaround as the half-time whistle was blown.

The second-half however was disappointing with the All Blacks failing to add to harness any more points.

The All Blacks worked hard for a good five to ten minutes, again lodged on the Hornets try line, but to no avail, the ball was eventually kicked forward and picked up by the visitors.

Hornets showed the All Blacks how it is done when Matt Parker scored the team’s fourth bonus point try.

A couple of questionable penalties were awarded to the Weston-super-Mare based side in quick succession, leading to another try, the second scored by Carter.

Then, less than four minutes later, the visitors made it five, with a good try under the posts by Sean Disney. The conversion was made, giving them an emphatic victory.

After the game, Cornish All Blacks fly-half Fraser Honey admitted that they need to convert their chances.

Honey said: “We’re spending 65% of the games in their red zones and not coming away with anything. It’s just execution. I don’t know whether it’s a mental thing. Today we weren’t quick off the line on the defence.

“We played far superior rugby than they did. I didn’t think they played a great game of rugby but they’ve come away with a 36-16 victory. I’d rather play poor rugby and get a win.

"Now we’ve got to embrace this Christmas break for a bit, we just need a break, then come back in the New Year a different animal. We have got a mountain to climb.

"We have got plenty of time but if we don’t start gaining points very quickly we will almost get to a point of having to win every game to give us any chance of staying up.”

Cornish All Blacks:

Try: Dawe

Conv: Honey

Pens: Honey 3

Hornets

Tries: Littlewood, Bailey, Carter 2, Parker

Convs: Carter 4

Pen: Carter