THE?Cornish All Blacks bounced back from their derby defeat at Okehampton by thrashing Teignmouth 60-3 at a rain-lashed Polson Bridge last Saturday.
Following the defeat a fortnight previously, head of rugby, Jimmy Tucker and his coaching team made four changes for their annual sponsors’ day.
Jordan Duke and Andy?Knight came into the front row to replace Ben Collins and Rory Cinnamond while new signing Torin Clarke made his debut at number eight with Chris Macdonald moving to flanker to replace George Bone who has gone back to university.
Scrum-half Dom Mulberry was dropped for Ben Stansfield who slotted in at inside-centre with Tom Sandercock slotting to Mulberry’s position.
The All Blacks started well and it was Clarke who scored on his first team debut after just eight minutes after he peeled off the back off a scrum.
Teignmouth got back into the game on 17 minutes as Dan Luffman slotted over a penalty.
As the half-hour mark approached, it looks as if the Devon visitors would go into the break just a try behind, but the All Blacks had other ideas as back-rowers Macdonald and skipper Lloyd Duke went over before half-time with Duke scoring seconds before the whistle.
Full-back Dan Pearce kicked just one of his three conversion attempts.
The All Blacks knew that there were points available to them and they put in a scintillating second-half display to score 43 unanswered points as Ryan Westren (2), Brandon Rowley, Jordan Duke, Harry Dawe and Jake Crabb all touched down.
Pearce and fly-half Greg Loydall shared kicking duties in the second-half with Pearce adding two penalties and as many kicks while Loydall booted over Westren and Crabb’s tries in the final ten minutes.
Skipper Lloyd Duke was left delighted with the performance as they prepare for another tasty derby this Saturday when they travel to North Devon to take on Bideford.
Duke said: “It was the first time this season that we implemented everything we’d talked about at training, and that’s why we were so successful. We all sung off the same hymnsheet and put in a terrific team performance.
“For the first 25 minutes we weren’t that clinical but we scored two tries before the end, including the one right before half-time, which must have been about 15 phases.
“The coaches said at half-time to make sure they stay on three points throughout the second-half while we talked about if we were as clinical as we were towards the end of the first-half then there were lots of tries out there for us in the second-half. Thankfully we were able to score plenty.
“In the second-half we were very clinical and everybody did their job well. Our ball carriers made lots of ground and they soon started to retreat. Considering the conditions I thought we played really well and were really clinical.
“We put together lots of 10 to 15 phase moves and at any level if you can do that you’ll eventually find a gap to score. It was extremely pleasing.”
The coaching staff’s decision to make four changes may have surprised some, but Duke was quick to credit them and the players who came in for their performances.
Duke said: “Everyone played really well especially the front row. My brother Jordan who was playing at hooker, which isn’t his natural position, threw 100% of his lineouts which was great and our backs were really dangerous.
Torin Clarke made his debut at number eight after playing for the seconds last week where he impressed. He was brought in as a ball carrier and he did really well. He’s also got good pace for a forward, which was great.
“However, I’d say that the most telling change was bringing in Tom Sandercock at scrum-half. He transformed us and in those conditions he was perfect. He brought a new energy to the team while Tom’s replacement at centre, Ben Stansfield, also did well. He ran hard and straight and created good lines.”
A crowd of nearly 500 was in attendance at Polson Bridge on sponsors’ day, and Duke hopes that their latest win will continue to draw them back.
He said: “We’re extremely fortunate to play in front of big crowds and it was great to get nearly 500 down there on what was such a wet day and it would probably have been even more if the weather wasn’t so poor.
“We know that word goes around the town when we’re winning and hopefully people will start talking about us again and come down to watch us.”
Cornish All Blacks fans will have to wait until next Saturday for their next home clash as they go to Bideford this weekend.
The North Devon side have lost their last five fixtures, but Duke admits that they’ll be relishing the chance to take on the All Blacks, and is determined to ensure that there’s no repeat of their defeat at Okehampton.
He said: “I don’t know much about them but I hear they’re quite forward-orientated so we’ll need our pack to be right on it.
I was looking at the results this morning and I see that they’ve lost their last five games so it might make them even more dangerous, a bit like when we went to Okehampton the other week.
“It’ll be a big day for them and we know we’ll probably have to play better than we did on Saturday.
“I said in the changing room after the game that we now need to use the Teignmouth result as a stepping stone and make sure that we keep the momentum going. We can’t afford to let off now so we’ll make sure we’re right up for it as they’re going to be determined to beat us.”