LAUNCESTON head coach Ryan Westren admitted his side ‘weren’t at the races’ as they were comfortably beaten 57-27 at Regional One South West leaders Devonport Services on Saturday.

The All Blacks headed to Plymouth looking to bounce back from their late defeat to Lydney, but despite starting brightly and only trailing 10-8 after 12 minutes, five unanswered tries from the hosts ensured the game was over at the break.

Launceston rallied somewhat after the restart, eventually grabbing a bonus-point thanks to Brandon Rowley’s second try and earlier scores from Billy Martin and George Bone. Westren, however, was far from happy with their performance, although he credited the players for their second half improvement.

Talking at full-time, he said: “Unfortunately the game got away from us early, and that meant we couldn’t really build into the game as we were chasing it from the get go.

“From a coach’s point of view, I want to say we didn’t get a crack at it, but that comes down to us. We gave them too many opportunities in the wrong areas, especially early on in the game. They’re the best side we’ve come up against and that’s pretty evident. They punished those mistakes and after minute 20 we’re chasing the game.”

He continued: “We said at half-time our first aim now is to go and get that bonus-point and see where we are after it. The game was gone, but that also brought opportunity as well. They probably thought the game was won and came that couple of per cent off which gave us the chance to chase the game down and get the bonus-point in the end.

“We could have lost 29-22 or something and still got the same points from it, so in that regard I’m happy we’ve kept the points ticking.”

Other results meant the All Blacks dropped to eighth, five points ahead of second bottom Marlborough who they visit on December 20.

Westren added: “We’ve just got to keep turning up on a Tuesday and Thursday and work hard. We’re a team in progress, we’ve had some changes in personnel which in the long run will only benefit us.

“We’re not going to go away and make drastic changes. We’ll keep working hard, keep working on the way we want to do things, and with two home games in a row now, hopefully we can get back into some form.”

Launceston welcome Exmouth on Saturday (3pm), and Westren feels they can turn the corner.

He said: “We’ve had it thick and fast with good teams in Lydney, Devonport and next week Exmouth, but last week we showed we can compete. But we weren’t at the races today, so hopefully we can have a reset this week and get back at it against Exmouth. They’re a side who suit the way we play, so hopefully next week it’ll be a different story.”

On what to expect, he concluded: “They’re a big physical side who have some really good strike runners and some good individuals, so we need to make sure we front up in those collisions.

“Yes they’ve had a bit of a change in coaching staff, but they still have a lot of the same personnel, so if we can deal with the big collisions and powerful runners, then we won’t be far away.”