Saturday, December 15

Tribute South West One (West)

Cornish All Blacks 15

CORNISH All Blacks joint head/coach, Ryan Westren admitted his side ‘didn’t really look like they were going to score tries’ as the league leaders fell to their first away defeat of the season at third-placed Newent on Saturday.

The Gloucestershire outfit are always powerful on home turf and snuck a deserved win with less than five minutes remaining to break Launceston hearts.

Westren and Ian Goldsmith were able to call on a near full-strength squad for the first time in a number of weeks and made two changes, one enforced, from the side that won 22-14 at Thornbury seven days earlier.

Andy Knight replaced Jordan Duke in the second-row while Westren returned from a hamstring-injury in place of the ill Tom Sandercock, which meant Shaun Crawford, who was originally scheduled to be on the bench, started at inside-centre.

Dan Pearce was also back on the bench following Sandercock’s withdrawal while Greg Thomas made a welcome return to the travelling 18 after injuring himself on the opening day at Lydney.

Newent’s Recreation Ground is one of the most intimidating grounds in the league; situated in a park where the small but hostile home crowd are on top of you, it’s easy to see why Newent have lost just once at home all season.

Conditions were also tough as driving rain and a swirling wind made free-flowing rugby almost impossible.

The opening 20 minutes were a nip and tuck affair with two Glenn Coles penalties giving Launceston a 6-0 lead before full-back Brett Gardner was somehow allowed to run in from 60 metres after collecting an Adam Collings box-kick. However during that time Morton went off with a recurrence of a shoulder injury and Knight did likewise and was replaced by Duke.

Newent added a second try before the break before Coles slotted a penalty to ensure they went in just a point down. After the interval, Coles’ penalty put them 12-10 up before Newent added their third unconverted try to go three clear.

With ten minutes to go, Coles levelled things up with his fifth penalty at 15-15 before Newent went up the other end to snatch a vital victory and keep them third in the table.

Despite the defeat and the fact that Okehampton earned five points from Coney Hill’s fourth cry-off the season, the All Blacks go into the Christmas break top, one point ahead of their local rivals who they meet in a barnstorming contest on Saturday, January 12.

Reflecting on the contest, Westren said: “It was pretty hard in brutal conditions but both teams tried to play rugby.

“We had dominance in the set-piece but Newent are a different animal at home, especially when they get on the front foot.

“It’s very hard to stop their momentum and it’s a very partisan place to play for a travelling side. You’re there by yourself in a vociferous environment.

“But saying that we came away with a point and are still top but we can’t argue with the result.

“We didn’t really look like we were going to score tries and that’s very unlike us.

“In every other game we’ve looked like we’re going to score but fair play to them, they did their homework.”

Two men who did make Westren pleased were Thomas and Chae Jenkins.

He said: “Greg Thomas was a big positive, he put in a very good performance and must have played about 50 or 60 minutes while Chae was also really good again. He certainly stood out.”

See next week’s Post to find out Westren’s thoughts on the season so far as they look ahead to the final dozen games in their quest for promotion back to the Tribute South West Premier.

Cornish All Blacks —

Edwards, Morton, Westren, Crawford, Kneebone, Coles, Collings; Bentham, Bulut, Jenkins, Goldsmith, Knight, Clarke, L Duke (captain), Rowley

Replacements: Thomas, J Duke, Pearce

Tries: N/A

Convs: N/A

Pens: Coles 5

Cornish All Blacks’ man-of-the-match: Chae Jenkins