Saturday, February 16

Tribute South West One (West)

Hornets 39

Cornish All Blacks 42

REPLACEMENT number eight Brandon Rowley scored a try with just two minutes to go as the Cornish All Blacks withheld a stirring Hornets comeback to keep themselves in second place in the table.

The All Blacks led 27-17 at the break on the 4G pitch in Weston-super-Mare and looked destined to ease to just their third win in their last seven starts.

However the home side – led by four-try hero Sean Disney – eventually stung themselves into action before Rowley’s late intervention meant that maximum points were coming back down the M5.

Joint head coaches Ian Goldsmith and Ryan Westren made three changes from the side that lost 35-17 at home to Bridgwater & Albion seven days previously as Westren returned from a calf injury to replace Shaun Crawford in an unfamiliar inside-centre role and partner Reuben Edwards in the midfield.

With full-back Dan Pearce dropped to the seconds for their trip to their Taunton counterparts, Tom Sandercock moved from scrum-half to fill the number 15 shirt with Dom Mulberry, who had impressed in the last couple of weeks off the bench, starting at nine.

In the forwards, there was just one change as Andy Knight came in for Rowley with Jordan Duke moving from the second-row to number eight.

Hornets had won six of their previous nine encounters at The Nest this term, but the All Blacks took the lead inside five minutes.

With the home side in the All Blacks’ 22, an attempted short pass was intercepted by skipper Lloyd Duke who quickly gave the ball to Edwards to run the remaining 75 metres for his second try in as many games. Glenn Coles added the extras.

However, Launceston have shipped a lot of points recently for a side aiming for promotion, and Hornets hit back almost immediately as Disney was the quickest to react to the loose ball from a chip over the top to score. The conversion was missed.

The 4G pitch allows for plenty of running rugby and the All Blacks were soon back in front. Sandercock made an excellent break from halfway before feeding Edwards on his inside to race clear for his second try within the opening quarter of the contest. 

Almost straight away, the All Blacks added a third try but this time it was all down to the power in their pack.

The home side were awarded a scrum close to their own line. However the rampant Cornishmen shoved them over their own line for Jordan Duke to finish it off at the back. For once Coles missed and they led 19-5.

With around 15 minutes of the half remaining, the All Blacks needed to remain on guard, and they were reduced to 14 men soon after as winger Aiden Jacob was sent for ten minutes in the sin-bin after infringing near his own line.

From the resulting penalty, Hornets chose to kick for the corner which led to lock Josh Hallett-Fairhurst receiving the lineout and playing in flanker Tommy Bailey for the try.

This time Jordan Humphris added the extras.

Coles added a penalty from dead in front on the 22 just after the half-hour before the visitors hit back once more. A fantastic break by right-winger Joe Gadd was stopped in the Launceston 22, but Disney was on hand to dart his way over to reduce the lead to five at 22-17.

But the All Blacks secured their bonus point try before the break. An excellent mis-pass from Westren set away left-winger Martin Kneebone who showed his ability to finish from 15 metres. Coles missed the kick but the visitors were 27-17 to the good.

Both sides had attacked with vigour in a thrilling first-half and the second 40 was just the same as Coles opened proceedings with a monster penalty from halfway.

Kneebone went close to a second try of the day after winning the ball near his own line. But after running all of 80 metres, he was wonderfully tackled by full-back Charlie Carter.

The home side were causing problems in attack and they grabbed a fourth try of their own as good work from forwards Joe Howe and Ross Cheeseborough allowed Danny Bailey to run through and play in Disney for his hat-trick under the posts. That was converted before Carter added a penalty to make it 30-27.

Launceston’s guts and determination were being put to the test. But they responded in fine fashion with 15 minutes to go as Rowley, now off the bench to play at number eight, showed good awareness from a stalled scrum to crash over from three metres.

Hooker Levent Bulut was sent to the sin-bin after being deemed to be too slow to retreat from a ruck, and the home side capitalised as Gadd and Disney finished off some excellent moves in the backline. One was converted to make it 39-35.

However with two minutes to go, Launceston were awarded a penalty and they decided to kick for a corner.

With Bulut still in the sin-bin, Jordan Duke’s throw was good and a driving maul was set up which ended with Rowley dotting down for yet another crucial try which Coles converted.

The remaining two minutes saw the home side win the ball back and put together multiple phases in the Launceston 22. However they eventually knocked the ball on and brought an end to yet another high-scoring thriller between the two sides, after the All Blacks’ 60-36 victory back in October.

Skipper Lloyd Duke hopes the character shown by his team will be taken forward in the final six games.

He said: “I think that the last two-minute defensive effort to keep them out probably brought home to the squad that that’s how hard we need to work.

“The boys were working harder. Hornets play on a 4G pitch which makes the game quicker anyway, so naturally we had to work harder to fill the gaps.

“For a team who have won two of their last six, to win that game like we did was impressive.”

Duke was delighted with certain aspects of the performance, adding: “The scrum was really good and was the foundation for the win, and with Ryan back in the centres with his distribution skills, all of a sudden it made a dangerous backline even more dangerous.

“But everybody played well, including the bench players!”

One area no doubt the coaches will be continuing to work on is their defence but Duke says it’s not for a lack of trying.

He said: “The stupid thing is we’ve been training really well and focusing on our defence but it hasn’t necessarily been translated onto the pitch, but we’ve got five points away from home.”

With no game this weekend, Duke is hoping that the quartet of Will Morton, Torin Clarke, Marc Williams and Adam Collings will be fit to face second-bottom Cullompton at Polson Bridge next Saturday.

He said: “It gives the injured players another week to get fit and recover for Cullompton. Although they’re all but relegated, they produced a really good result against Keynsham on Saturday so they’re not a side to be taken lightly!”

Cornish All Blacks —

Sandercock, Jacob, Edwards, Westren, Kneebone, Coles, Mulberry; Bentham, Bulut, Thomas, Knight, Goldsmith, Lightfoot, L Duke (captain), J Duke

Replacements: Jenkins, Rowley, Crawford

Tries: Edwards 2, J Duke, Kneebone, Rowley 2

Convs: Coles 3

Pens: Coles 2

Cornish All Blacks’ man-of-the-match: Reuben Edwards/Martin Kneebone