Saturday, October 12

South West Premier

Newbury Blues 16

Cornish All Blacks 28

THE Cornish All Blacks put in a superb all-round team performance as they earned their first victory of the season on Saturday with a 28-16 success at Newbury Blues.

Launceston arrived in Berkshire with four successive defeats to their name since promotion, but a vastly-improved performance against high-flying Maidenhead seven days earlier showed that they could compete.

Joint coaches Ian Goldsmith and Ryan Westren made just one change in the matchday 18 with Reuben Edwards coming in for the injured Tom Sandercock at full-back.

Launceston were also boosted by a number of players who weren’t picked, making the trip up to Monks Lane to support.

Newbury, who won South West One (East) last season, had won just one game themselves, but to underline the task facing the Cornishmen, they had beaten Exmouth 25-15 at home, while Launceston had lost 76-24 to the same opposition at Polson Bridge.

The Blues struck first through inside-centre Dan Thorne’s long-range penalty on five minutes before they extended their advantage shortly after.

Superb hands in the backs ended with right-winger James Lewis cutting a superb line before going over in the corner. Thorne’s conversion hit the post and went wide. At 8-0 down the visitors needed the next score and they got it shortly before the quarter-hour mark.

After working their way up the centre of the field, good passes from Glenn Coles and Edwards set Martin Kneebone away down the left-wing. Although he was tackled, the ball was recycled and passed by scrum-half Dom Mulberry to Westren who was never going to be stopped from less than five metres.

Coles missed the conversion but landed two quick penalties to make it 11-8 after 26 minutes.

Launceston looked to set go into half-time with a three-point cushion, but made it ten as second-row Torin Clarke dotted down.

Westren made a superb break from just past the ten-metre line after picking up a loose ball before drawing the last defender and playing in Clarke to stroll over from close-range. Coles slotted the extras from dead in front.

Both sides knew that beating sides likely to be around them in the table are crucial, and Newbury replied shortly after the break through winger Chris Atkinson.

From a scrum near halfway, they worked the ball into the backs where fly-half Alex Bancroft made a superb line break before offloading to the onrushing Atkinson to dive over. Crucially, the conversion was again missed.

Both teams exchanged penalties to make it 21-16, before man-of-the-match Brandon Rowley’s try with ten minutes to go sealed it.

From their own scrum, ten metres out, the visiting pack proved too powerful as they forced Newbury back over their line for Rowley to touch down.

The All Blacks then maintained their defensive discipline as they saw the game out to taste victory for the first time in five matches and move off the foot of the table at the expense of Brixham.

Westren was delighted with his side’s work.

He said: “This was a mega challenge away from home and to come away with the win was brilliant. It was always going to take us a little while to acclimatise.

“It was another step up from the week before. I’ve said over the last couple of weeks that we need to put our stamp on the game. That changes the dynamic. They weren’t any worse than the teams we’ve played, we just played really well. We put together enough phases to become dominant and we also went through big defensive sets. If you can do that then teams run out of ideas.

“I always knew that we could attack, but the pleasing thing is that our defence has started to improve.

“At last Tuesday night’s training we worked hard on three-minute blocks of defending. You rarely have to defend for three minutes in a match without a penalty or something being awarded, so we told the boys that needs to be carried into the games and that you can do it as you’ve got it in the bank.”

Westren praised their bouncebackability.

He said: “The first couple of weeks weren’t easy to deal with, but it’s testament to the boys’ character after three significant losses to beat a team [Exmouth] who beat a team we conceded 70 points to.

“To do that is very pleasing and I’m really proud of the boys. We’ve come a long way in a couple of weeks in terms of mindset and belief.”

Westren was particularly pleased with the exploits of Rowley, who after not even featuring in the first couple of weeks and playing at hooker at Ivybridge, has been superb back in his customary number eight role.

He said: “Brandon Rowley has been pretty sensational in the last couple of weeks. He’s enabled us to get on the front foot.

“He’s got himself a bit fitter and has been a real force to be reckoned with.

“That said, everyone played well and the bench added good value when they came on.

“Another thing I was delighted with was the boys, who weren’t involved, came up and watched.

“It’s a massive sign of the club that has been built. Whatever happens on a Saturday, it’s nice for them to enjoy their day out and for the boys who went out on the park to make it a good day for everyone.

“Saturday’s performance was right up there in what we’ve produced over the last three or four years, we need to use as a benchmark now, and that starts this weekend against Okehampton.”

Oke make the short trip down the A30 looking to make it a hat-trick of league wins against the Blacks, and continued their solid start to the season, which has seen them win three and lose three of their six fixtures on Saturday as they beat Ivybridge 27-11 at home in a Devon derby.

Westren said: “This week is a very different challenge but it’s one we’re looking forward to, especially after last season where we lost home and away, so there’s a score to settle.

“They’ve had a great start, so they’re pretty acclimatised already and are in good form.

“We’ve played the four times in the last couple of years and they’ve played the same every time.

“They’re very physical and pretty good across the board as in they’re strong up front and pretty pacey in the backline.

“It comes down to dealing with their threats and making sure we impose ourselves on them.

“But if we perform like we did on Saturday, I’m pretty confident that we’ll come out on the right side of the result.”

Cornish All Blacks —

Edwards, Ogilvie, Crawford, Westren, Kneebone, Coles, Mulberry; Bentham, Bulut, Thomas, Goldsmith, Clarke, Lightfoot, L Duke (captain), Rowley.

Replacements: Cinnamond, Carpenter, Lang.

Tries: Westren, Clarke, Rowley.

Convs: Coles 2.

Pens: Coles 3.

Cornish All Blacks’ man-of-the-match: Brandon Rowley.