National Two South

Polson Bridge, Launceston

Cornish All Blacks 12Taunton Titans 38

CORNISH All Blacks’ home game against Taunton Titans was never going to be easy.

Taunton, who finished near the top of the league last year, are an experienced set up compared to the All Blacks, but the Cornish side gave it their all, despite losing 12-38.

Taunton put the All Blacks under pressure from the outset and had a chance to score within the opening minutes following an infringement from Launceston, but Gary Kingdom missed the penalty kick.

The home side tackled well and held up what looked to be a try for Taunton. But shortly after, the try onslaught began.

Aaron Struminski scored the first, with Kingdom making the second and also scoring the conversion. Two more converted tries were scored before half time, by Jake Woolmore and former Launceston player BJ Chapman.

The Cornish All Blacks played considerably better in the second half, despite having two players in the sin bin at one stage. The home side brought on a couple of replacements and they livened up play considerably.

A couple of infringements by Launceston led to referee Daniel Parrott awarding a penalty try to Taunton, and following this, play was a bit stop-start.

Launceston’s inexperience showed at times, but they got it together and worked as a team to set up Jon Dawe to score the side’s first try. Chris Swash’s conversion was wide.

In reply, Woolmore went over the line to score Taunton’s fifth try, securing a bonus point.

Launceston weren’t put off and a few minutes later, Eddie McGinley made it two tries for Launceston, touching down behind the posts. Swash made the easy conversion.

Launceston played with confidence in the second half, but it was another good day at the office for Taunton, who notched up their third five-point win of the season.

Scores:

Cornish All Blacks

Tries: Dawe (70), McGinley (74).

Conv: Brownfield (75)

Taunton

Tries: Struminski (11), Kingdom (17), Woolmore (28, 73), Chapman BJ (35).

Pen try: 31

Conv: Kingdom (17, 28, 35), Webb (56)

Referee: Daniel Parrott

Attendance: 528

Man of the match: Eddie McGinley (All Blacks)

Teams:

Cornish All Blacks

McGinley, Chapman S, Westren, Swash, Dawe, Brownfield (Gardener 48), Mulberry, Dugard (Bulut 64), Salter (Colinette 78), Chapman L, Stanlieck, Hilton, Norris (Oulton 49, Norris 55), Duke, Duncan.

Replacements not used: Dingle.

Taunton

Kingdom (Brown 48), Struminski, Holdsworth (Owlett 55), Tichias, Claydon, East, Webb, Woolmore, Davis (Chapman 52), Caulfield, Harvey, Hales, Chapman BJ (Spurdle 42), Grace, Prior (Newsam 29).

Replacements not used: Turner, Brown.