Saturday, February 8

South West Premier

Cornish All Blacks 21

A SUPERB performance from the Cornish All Blacks forwards provided the platform as they secured a league double over neighbours Okehampton with a 21-15 victory at the Showground.

Launceston trailed 3-0 at the break thanks to Richie Friend’s penalty, but were eventually rewarded for their dominance as tries from Dan Pearce and Ryan Westren put them 15-3 up with less than 20 minutes to go.

Although both Karl Pearce and Friend crossed the whitewash for the Devon side, two further Pearce penalties ensured the All Blacks recorded a fifth league win out of six.

Westren and fellow joint head coach Ian Goldsmith were forced into two changes from the side that beat Newbury Blues 22-12 a week earlier as fly-half Glenn Coles and winger Reuben Edwards were both ruled out through injury, meaning a first league start of the season for Ben Hawke at ten with Pearce recalled to replace Edwards.

With a howling wind and slope to contend with, the All Blacks won the toss and chose to play against the elements in the first-half.

They did this superbly as they kept possession for long periods and dominated at the set-piece, frustrating the life out of the home crowd, although they did have to manage ten minutes with just 14 men as lock Tom Bottoms was sent to the sin-bin.

Oke did manage a 14th minute penalty through Friend, but that was as good as it got. When the All Blacks were awarded penalties of their own, the wind meant they weren’t able to kick at goal.

The second-half provided plenty more action with the All Blacks using the conditions to eventually come out on top.

Hawke missed an early chance to level it up with a penalty, but on 51 minutes Launceston went in front. An Adam Collings box-kick bounced on the 22 but was misjudged by left-winger Brandon Horn. The ball bounced back over his shoulder towards the advancing Pearce who got past Horn and to the line despite a covering defender’s last-ditch tackle.

Oke were penalised from the restart as the kick didn’t travel the required ten metres, and soon after, Pearce, who was now on kicking duties, nailed the penalty from right in front.

The Maroon and Ambers started to have a spell of possession for the first time, but on the hour the All Blacks went further in front.

A good kick from hooker Levent Bulut went into touch just five metres from Okehampton’s line. Although the hosts won the lineout, they tried to play their way out but didn’t go anywhere. The clearing kick only went 15 metres. From the lineout, a driving maul was set up and as it broke off, Westren received the ball five metres out to score. However in the process he went off with an ankle injury.

Okehampton have lost just once at home all season since promotion and battled back into the game, forcing a series of penalties which they felt should have resulted in cards.

They were eventually rewarded with 15 minutes to go as replacement Karl Pearce crashed over from close range following a tap and go.

Launceston’s scrum is one of their great strengths and it gave the hosts a torrid time all afternoon, resulting in several penalties.

Pearce slotted a penalty with ten minutes to go to make it 18-8.

Okehampton had to get the next score and did with two minutes to go as Friend, a former favourite at Polson Bridge, stretched out an arm following good work from the forwards.

But it was Launceston who had the last laugh as more infringements at scrum time allowed Pearce to notch another penalty with the last kick of the game.

The victory means the All Blacks are up to ninth in the 13-team division, five points above second bottom Newbury Blues, who pulled off a surprise home win over neighbours Maidenhead.

Westren paid tribute to his side.

He said: “It was a wonderful feeling to execute the gameplan in the way we wanted to and to stop them getting into the game. Fair play to the lads, they took on board what we spoke about and executed it perfectly.”

Although the second-half saw Launceston score all their points, it was the opening 40 that laid the groundwork.

Westren said: “We forced Oke back and controlled the ball really well. We knew if they had possession they could pin us in with the wind and slope, but due to our ability to control the ball when they did get it, they probably felt they needed to play more than they needed to. We disrupted their decision making and what they would have liked to have done.

“We stuck to the plan and played in the right areas. We didn’t play too much rugby in our own half because we didn’t need to. If we could keep it in their half we knew that the more time we could spend there, the more likely we were to win.”

Westren knows that both victories against Okehampton could prove vital.

He said: “To take eight points off Oke could be telling for us come the end of the season, especially as points for us at the moment are very important. I think we handled the occasion slightly better and that was telling. They have been a bit of a bogey side for us over the last three years but mentally we’ve come a long way to be able to deal with the occasion. At one point we had four key personnel injured, so to still win was great.”

Westren had high praise for a number of players including Hawke, who was drafted in on Thursday night.

He said: “Tom Bottoms stood out and Fred (Bulut) was very good, while Adam Collings had his best game since coming back from injury. But a special mention goes to Ben Hawke. For someone who can’t always get to training due to work, and hasn’t played that level of rugby for a while coming into derby day, he handled it wonderfully. He defended well and controlled our attack, which isn’t an easy feat.”

Second-placed Weston-super-Mare are the visitors to Polson Bridge on Saturday, and Westren wants his side to embrace the challenge.

He said: “We’re aware of the size of the task facing us against Weston-super-Mare, but there’s probably not a better time to play them with where we’re at mentally.

“Their record speaks for itself and when we played them in October they were a very good side. “They’re very well-rounded and have some very good individuals who can hurt you if you’re not on the money. But we’re at Polson and we’re on a good run of form. We know we’re coming up against a side who are a step up on the sides we’ve beaten in recent weeks, but we’ll be working hard to make sure we don’t get ahead of ourselves. If we can carry on our good form for a few weeks, we’ll be in a good place.”

Cornish All Blacks —

Lang, Pearce, Sandercock, Westren, Kneebone, Hawke, Collings; Cinnamond, Bulut, Thomas, Bottoms, Clarke, Lightfoot, L Duke (captain), Rowley.

Replacements: Bentham, Goldsmith, Crawford.

Tries: Pearce, Westren.

Convs: Pearce.

Pens: Pearce 3.

Cornish All Blacks’ man-of-the-match:

Tom Bottoms.

Launceston Seconds lost 50-26 at home to their Redruth counterparts in Group One of the Kernow League.

The Blacks, who were on top at scrum time, led 12-7 at one stage, but Redruth’s impressive backline was too strong.

Jordan Duke scored twice on his return to action for the All Blacks, as did full-back Tom Sandercock, who also converted three of the tries.