Saturday, November 23

South West Premier

Cornish All Blacks 32

Brixham 32

DAN Pearce converted Ryan Westren’s try with the final play of the game to earn the Cornish All Blacks a deserved 32-32 draw with Brixham at Polson Bridge.

In a topsy-turvy encounter which saw the lead change hands throughout, the All Blacks found themselves 19-15 down at half-time before a penalty try got them to within one at 26-25.

Two Mitch Pinkus penalties looked to have ensured the Fisherman headed back to South Devon with a vital five points before Westren’s late intervention meant both sides went home with three points to show for their efforts in the battle for survival.

Westren and fellow joint head coach Ian Goldsmith made three changes from the side that were edged out at Bracknell as Rory Cinnamond, Harry Lightfoot and Martin Kneebone all returned to the squad with Greg Thomas on the bench and Chris Macdonald and Tom Sandercock unavailable.

Lightfoot’s inclusion at blindside-flanker meant Tom Bottoms moved into the second-row with Edwards switching to full-back to accommodate Kneebone on the left-wing.

The All Blacks started strongly and nearly scored within three minutes. However from Westren’s pass, number eight Brandon Rowley was put into touch a couple of metres from the line.

Brixham gradually started to get a foothold and took the lead on ten minutes. Flanker Scott Puleston broke through a poor tackle at a ruck to run 30 metres before playing in hooker Davy McGregor on his left to run the rest of the 15 metres to the line. Pinkus converted.

Launceston were looking dangerous in attack and got their reward on 18 minutes. A penalty was kicked to the corner and after the initial maul was stopped and they went through three phases, scrum-half Dom Mulberry passed to prop Rikki Bentham who was never going to be denied from close-range. Dan Pearce kicked the conversion.

Pearce then slotted a penalty on 27 minutes from 35 metres after Brixham were driven backwards off their own put in at a scrum.

But the lead lasted less than two minutes.

The restart was allowed to bounce and was grabbed by a Brixham player who was only tackled five metres out. After a few phases, the ball was worked out to the left-wing where full-back Devon Jewsbury was lurking to finish it off. Pinkus’ conversion went wide left.

The game was turning into a real end-to-end affair, and three minutes later the hosts went back in front. After scrum-half Ed Goodman’s clearing kick was well caught by Rowley, Launceston went through the phases. Eventually, Mulberry passed to Westren who drew two defenders before popping a pass to the onrushing Torin Clarke to trample over Jewsbury and score. Pearce was unlucky to see his kick hit both posts before bouncing to safety.

Brixham responded once more and led before half-time thanks to a moment of brilliance from Pinkus.

Receiving the ball some ten metres out, he chipped it over the defence before latching on to the bouncing ball to dive over. He then kicked the easiest of conversions to give the Fishermen a 19-15 advantage.

Pearce’s second penalty of the afternoon seven minutes after the break brought Launceston to within one.

That was the way it stayed until the hour when Brixham went eight points clear. From a lineout on the right-hand side, play was shifted out to the left, and in the end Morris was too strong and too powerful to clamber over from ten metres. Pinkus again kicked the extras.

Launceston’s scrum was dominant and it was from that that they again brought themselves back into the game.

Awarded a scrum five metres out after they were held up over the line, the All Blacks drove the visitors backwards twice, which resulted in penalties from referee Zerren Bell.

However on the third occasion Brixham were penalised, Bell awarded a penalty try.

With 15 minutes to go the game was there for both sides to win.

Pinkus slotted two excellent penalties to take them seven clear, meaning a converted try was required for Launceston to grab the draw.

After incessant home pressure, it looked as if they would be denied. But after several phases and scrums, Westren crashed over from close-range to spark jubilation on the sidelines.

Pearce held his nerve to slot the conversion and ensure both sides went into their weekend off with three points apiece, but wondering what might have been.

Westren admitted he was left with mixed emotions.

He said: “Come the 80th minute, it’s two points gained but a couple of moments cost us, so we can only be so happy.

“Defensively we’re much stronger, our penalty count was down, we dominated the scrum and our lineout was much improved from last week. We won 12/12 from our lineout and stole some of theirs.

“So going by the KPIs (key performance indicators), we should have won, but unfortunately we didn’t.

“Perhaps a lack of experience and concentration and a bit of naivety tipped the balance, and cost us the win.”

Westren was full of praise for the character shown.

He said: “Our season could have been staring down the barrel of the gun if we hadn’t picked up that late try.

“That comes from the whole squad digging in for dear life. What you can’t teach is heart, determination and to work hard.

“The rugby side you can get better at, but the attitude and will to win comes from within. As a coach, the more players who have that, the better. The players have shown that they have that in abundance, so hopefully we can now push on.

“We’ve started to realise our potential and Saturday was a prime example. Those extra two points at the end will go quite far for the boys’ confidence going forward.”

Westren knows though that they must be switched on throughout.

He said: “We had a couple of momentary lapses of communication and we let them into our red zone and they scored. Those moments are telling. If you give teams opportunities like that then they’ll take them.

“We need to make sure we put teams to bed when we get the chance and make them work harder for their scores. Their scores came from a couple of lapses, which allowed them to stay with us on the scoreboard.”

Westren was pleased with the contribution of Bottoms, who is likely to make a big impact over the coming months.

“Tom Bottoms came into the second-row this week. He shored up our lineout and he’s very athletic around the park. It’s great to have him back in the mix.

“But to a man there were good performances. The forward pack put in a massive shift. Six of the forwards’ tackle count was in double figures which shows us the work-rate they’re putting in to get back in the defensive line. At the beginning of the season it was an area which we needed to work on, so it’s great to see.”

Westren will hope for a similar performance next weekend when they head to fourth-placed Camborne for the much-anticipated Cornish derby.