Saturday, September 29

Tribute South West One (West)

St Ives 33

Cornish All Blacks 40

PLAYER/coach Ryan Westren scored in the dying minutes as the Cornish All Blacks fought back from 28-10 down to beat St Ives in a ten-try thriller.

The All Blacks went into the Cornish derby fired up following their 17-10 defeat at the hands of local rivals Okehampton.

Launceston made just one change in their matchday 18 as Marc Williams returned in the second-row at the expense of Dan Goldsmith, who sustained a serious shoulder injury seven days previously.

The visitors started well with possibly the best try of the game scored in the fifth minute by full-back Reuben Edwards. From a scrum deep in their own 22, the ball was won and scrum-half Adam Collings spun the ball to the right for Edwards to run at speed; he jinked and inter-passed with right-wing Will Morton before outpacing his opposite number Joe Parma to score under the posts. Glenn Coles kicked the conversion.

St Ives, through their huge pack, then dominated the rest of the first-half with their strong set-piece, powerful running and ball retention as they moved the ball through several phases of play and scored four tries through number eight Martyn Lawrance, Chris Fuca, Ben Watson and Jamie Prisk. All the tries were converted by fly-half Rhys Brownfield.

Coles did kick a penalty to Launceston in it while wing Martin Kneebone had a try for the visitors disallowed after the home defender was adjudged to have held him up.

At 28-10 down heading into half-time, Launceston were staring down the barrel; however Collings and skipper Lloyd Duke had other ideas.

With the clock ticking down to the break, the visitors stormed into the St Ives 22 after strong running from Torin Clarke and Duke.

St Ives won the subsequent lineout and could have kicked the ball out of play for the referee to blow for half-time. However, they chose to run the ball, but in the process, the ball was spilled. Eventually Collings played in Duke to score from ten metres out. Coles converted and they went into the break 11 points down.

The home side’s pack was massive and were a constant threat in the first-half and at the set-piece. But as the game went on they gradually tired, allowing the All Blacks’ running game to come to the fore.

Launceston’s replacement prop Sam Snell, who came on inside the opening 15 minutes for Alex Bartlett, put in a gutsy, determined performance as he took up a role he had never previously done for the club, and eventually started to come out on top against his opposite number.

The second-half saw two tries within the first couple of minutes.

Clarke received the kick-off and went on a lung-busting run towards the St Ives 22. Although he was eventually tackled, the ball was spun out to the left where Westren played in Kneebone, who handed off his man to go over in the corner. Coles missed the conversion.

The All Blacks were just one point behind seconds later.

St Ives’ kick-off was again poor as it went out on the full.

From the resulting scrum, the ball was played to Westren who ran through a big gap. As he was half-tackled he offloaded to the flying Morton who ran around Parma to score from 35 metres out.

St Ives went back in front on the hour as outside-centre Jack Kessell forced his way over to make it 33-27.

Lawrance was soon yellow-carded which gave the All Blacks even more control.

Coles kicked two penalties to make it all square before Westren won it with seconds to go.

A great run by Kneebone saw him held up right on the line, allowing Westren to pick up the ball up at the base of the ruck to score.

Referee James Grant stated there was time for a last few seconds of play and St Ives kicked off. There was then a bizarre incident that could still have changed the final score and subsequent victor. Duke, having won the ball from the kick-off, threw the ball into touch rather than kicking the ball, therefore St Ives were awarded a penalty and had the option of kicking the ball to the corner with the chance of a lineout and possible try.

However, they failed to secure the lineout, the ball was knocked on and the final whistle blown.

Westren admitted that it was an incredible contest.

He said: “I haven’t played in very many games like that. The fact that we were 28-10 down and still won shows we have a special group of lads.

“There were lots of positives and negatives but what you can’t teach as a coach is the heart and will to win. Most people would have written us off at 28-10 down but we stuck to what we’re good at and it paid dividends in the second-half.

Westren believes that Duke’s score close to half-time changed everything.

He said: “Lloyd’s try made us believe that we can win it and changed the mindset of both teams. Our tails were then up and when we kicked off for the second-half we were in control.

“They were dominant for the first 30 minutes, but that try put them on a bit of a downer before half-time.

“In the second-half we played some scintillating rugby and scored some great tries. Even though we were off the boil for most of the first-half we knew that they’d tire and the second-half was our chance to assert our dominance, and we did that. But to come back from 28-10 down away from home takes some doing.”

Westren had special praise for Kneebone, Morton, Snell and man-of-the-match Edwards.

He said:?“Everyone was really good but the back three were electric and so was Dan?Pearce when he came on.

“To have four people like that at our disposal is just great. To have people back there who can make something from nothing is a major asset to have.

“Sam also did amazingly well. He’s played very little rugby there but he took one for the team and played really really well. He held his own in the scrums and did exceptionally well in the loose.”

The All Blacks are back in action on Saturday when they welcome Teignmouth to Polson Bridge (3pm).

Cornish All Blacks —

Edwards, Morton, Westren, Crawford, Kneebone, Coles, Collings; Bentham, Bulut, Bartlett, Clarke, Williams, Rowley, Bone, L Duke (captain)

Replacements: J Duke, Snell, Pearce

Tries: Edwards, L Duke, Morton, Kneebone, Westren

Convs: Coles 3

Pens: Coles 3

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