ON a glorious autumn afternoon, Launceston made the trip to Regentsholme to take on league leaders, Lydney, in a top of the table clash.

The prize was to be able to sit atop the table at the end of the afternoon. For the CABs it was also the chance to erase, arguably their worst league performance last year, in the same fixture.

Like last week, the CABs started off with a bang and within 7 minutes they were 0-14 up, courtesy of a Charlie Short and a Jose Luis Juarez try (both converted by George Hillson). The first was off a driving maul and Short crashing over off a pop ball; the latter from a quick tap & go and being on the shoulder of Hillson.

However, like the previous week, the CABs allowed the opposition back into the game and a couple of penalties gave Lydney the chance to go into the corner and use their powerful maul drive to cut it back to 12-14 and the game was on.

Unlike, last week the CABs did manage to weather the next phase of the game; despite being guilty of some unnecessary turnovers between the CABs 22 and the half-way line. Two areas that were working well, were the scrum and line-out which gave the CABs a solid platform and comfort area.

The CABs learnt from previous games and being prepared to vary their game up; the lineouts were now being driven; just to give the CABs some possession and Lydney were starting to infringe and give penalties away.

A 5m lineout was driven over by the forwards with Fred Bulut being the recipient of his fellow forwards (12-21) and then some more excellent play by the CABs resulted in Juarez cutting a lovely short line to score near the posts (12-28) and the CABs looked liked they managed the tricky period perfectly.

Yet, their current Achilles heel struck again, a spilt ball just outside the CABs 22 gave possession back to Lydney and despite some pressure defence, the Lydney 9 chipped a ball over the CABs defence and the ball bounced generously for the Lydney winger to score (19-28).

Within a minute of the second half starting, Hillson had finished off a sensational set of phases to score and extend the lead to 19-33. Another three points, for Hillson quickly followed, and another flowing move ended up with captain, Tom Sandercock, juggling the ball before sprinting over for a 19-41 lead.

It was now a case of consolidating the lead and seeing if the CABs could profit from any errors from a desperate home side.

Another powerful drive following a yellow card for a high tackle, by winger Zerren Hammond, gave Lydney their own try bonus point before Hillson added his second and moved the CABs to 24-48 lead.

The game was finished with the Lydney prop intercepting a Hillson pass, on the edge of the 22 and scooting over for a 29-48 win to the CABs. This was arguably, the CABs most all round performance of the season and a real test of their character and credentials to be a contender (along with Barnstaple and Exmouth) for the top spot.

The CABs have a run of three home games in the next four league games to try and keep the heat on the other two clubs (along with an away Cornwall Cup fixture against Penryn sandwiched in), with the first against Matson, coming down to Polson next Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Castles consolidated their place at the top of Cornwall Counties 3, with a home walkover win against Bude IIs and make the short journey to St Austell next Saturday.