Saturday, September 21

South West Premier

Cornish All Blacks 14

DESPITE an improved performance, the Cornish All Blacks fell to their third successive defeat back at South West Premier level after being well beaten 69-14 at Ivybridge on Saturday.

Launceston had been given a tough introduction to life back at Step Five, in having to face two of the league’s better sides in Exeter University and Exmouth, and once again they had to face another of the hotly-tipped outfits at Cross-in-Hand.

And although they conceded 11 tries, the side put together a much better display.

Joint coaches Ian Goldsmith and Ryan Westren made five changes from the 76-24 defeat against Exmouth at Polson Bridge with three in the forwards and two on the outside.

In the pack, Brandon Rowley, now trying to establish himself as a hooker instead of in the back-row, was given a starting berth as was recalled prop Greg Thomas in place of the benched Levent Bulut and Rory Cinnamond.

With lock Chris Macdonald injured, Tom Bottoms was given his first start for the club as was left winger Louis Ogilvie, who replaced full-back Eddie McGinley, who had gone off in the early stages seven days earlier.

Ogilvie’s inclusion meant that Dan Pearce moved to full-back.

The final change saw combative centre Shaun Crawford recalled at the expense of fly-half Glenn Coles, which meant Westren moving from 12 to play at ten.

With just 13 teams in the league due to a pull-out, one team has to have a bye each week and it was Ivybridge who had theirs seven days earlier. But despite the two-week lay-off, they tore into the CABs from the start on the 4G pitch.

Winger Tom Scoles scored in the right-hand corner on seven minutes, before outside-centre Charlie Briant added to the lead three minutes later (12-0).

Dan Pearce missed a simple penalty on 13 minutes from in front of the posts.

Midway through the half Ivybridge added a third try through number eight Adam Northcott from a five-metre scrum before Ogilvie grabbed his first try for the club on 24 minutes, utilising his strength to score in the right-hand corner following some lovely hands by Crawford and Reuben Edwards.

Pearce added the extras to make it 19-7.

However that only served to inspire the Greens who scored three further tries before half-time through Briant, winger Damon Ackerman and Scoles, the latter intercepting a pass on halfway to race to the line.

At 36-7 down at the break, the last thing the Cornishmen needed was for a sin-bin after the restart. However, Cinnamond was given ten minutes and the Ivies capitalised as Scoles completed his hat-trick after being set up by scrum-half Ben Watts.

Launceston did grab a second try before the hour through skipper Lloyd Duke from a driving maul, which was converted by Pearce, but at 41-14 down it was a case of trying to score twice for the losing bonus point.

However the hosts crossed the white line four further times before the end.

The first coming from openside-flanker Ben King following a series of pick and gos before debutant Matt Gilbury, second-row Robin Luscombe and inside-centre Matt Grieveson all touched down.

Fly-half Luke Martell ended up with six conversions and Grieveson one.

Westren admitted that Ivybridge were simply too good.

He said: “Unfortunately, at the moment we’re just not good enough across the board. It’s clearly visible that the league has moved on in standard since we were last in it.

“We need to acclimatise as quickly as possible and keep working as a team and as a coaching staff.

“Personally, I have every faith that we’ll come good as long as we stick to it and don’t become disillusioned, a lot can change in a few weeks. That has to be our target.

“We need to focus on the week ahead and focus on the changes we can make from the previous week. Small improvements from week to week will then add up as big improvements over time.”

Despite the scoreline, Westren believes there were things to be positive about.

He said: “There were some improvements. Something that was noticeable was our increased want and will to make tackles, and despite the scoreline we made Ivybridge work for some of their tries as opposed to against Exmouth when they scored at will.”

This weekend is Launceston’s turn for a bye, and Westren hopes the 14-day break between Saturday and next weekend’s clash at home to high-flying Maidenhead will give them a chance to reset.

He said: “I think its come at a good time. It’s not nice when you’ve suffered three heavy defeats so it’s good to have a break mentally, but that’s not to say that these two weeks wont be utilised to put some serious work in on all aspects of our game.

“The first three weeks has shown that our defence will be a continual work on throughout the season, but the aspect which will take us forward is to keep the ball for longer periods of time. At the moment we’re defending most of the time and that takes it out of you. If we can keep hold of the ball, we’ll be able to put more of our control in the game, as opposed to being dictated to.”

Cornish All Blacks —

Pearce, Ogilvie, Edwards, Crawford, Kneebone, Westren, Mulberry; Bentham, Rowley, Thomas, Bottoms, Clarke, Lightfoot, L Duke (captain), Gynn.

Replacements: Cinnamond, Bulut, Coles.

Tries: Ogilvie, L Duke.

Convs: Pearce 2.

Pens: N/A.