THE Cornish All Blacks ended their run of pre-season friendlies with a 43-14 victory over Wadebridge Camels.

The Camels, coached by former All Black Mike Rawlings, arrived at Polson with the belief that they could do some damage, and they put up a good fight.

But it was the home side who pulled it together in the second-half to get the result the team, coaches and supporters, were looking for.

All Blacks captain, Lloyd Duke, said: "We started well, then we went two tries up and we got a bit over confident and allowed them back in. At half-time we said let’s go back to basics and nil them in the second-half, that was important defensively. To finish our pre-season like that was fantastic.

"Wadebridge were physical, they came here with confidence. They came here thinking they could turn us over, with old faces, but we definitely earned the win. Our scrum was fantastic. We stepped ourselves up as forwards and that gave us a dangerous backline."

The Cornish All Blacks notched up seven tries in all, the first coming in the third minute of the game, when Martin Kneebone went over and converted the same.

The side were on good form, showing strength in the scrum and making some great tackles. They looked to score again, but were brought down just shy of the line. Minutes later Chris Macdonald found a gap and made it 12-0 to Launceston.

Wadebridge were playing well, then a penalty conceded by the All Blacks gave the visitors a push, resulting in a try by Adam Collings that was converted by Shaun Hartley.

Wadebridge had the advantage as half-time neared, and Dan Thomas found a gap in the All Blacks’ defence to score a converted try, giving them a two point lead as the whistle was blown.

The half-time team talk seemed to work wonders for the All Blacks. Within minutes Sam Snell scored a try, converted by new signing Dan Pearce.

Pearce, who has signed from Bude, proved himself to already be an asset for the squad, as shortly after, he ran the ball down the pitch, dodging Wadebridge players, to score a try of his own. His conversion attempt bounced off the posts.

Wadebridge kept battling away, and tested the All Blacks’ defence. But the home side moved into safer territory when Edwards scored his second try of the game, converted by Pearce.

The sixth try came less than five minutes later when Tom Sandercock touched down under the posts, resulting in another Pearce conversion.

Wadebridge didn’t let the All Blacks rest on their laurels, and kept powering forward, but despite their efforts, they failed to increase their score.

The visitors conceded two successive penalties in the dying minutes of the game. Pearce kicked to the corner and there was a huge push for the line. The referee awarded another penalty to Launceston and, following a scrum, they pushed the ball over the line, with Lloyd Duke touching down before the end of the game.

Both teams played well throughout, but it was Jimmy Tucker’s men who had the edge.

Skipper Duke praised the support of the crowd, saying: "We had a good crowd last week. This week they’re as loud as I’ve heard for a long time. When we give them something, they’re definitely worth another man."

Looking ahead to the forthcoming season, Duke said: "We’re nowhere near the finished article. But we could reel off another ten players that could take a place. We’ve got two men fighting for every shirt. We know we’re going into the unknown but we will go up to Keynsham and play how we have trained."