AllBlacks 12
Warriors 25

A far better performance from the Warriors on Monday night than was seen against Coventry on Saturday at Brickfields.

With a nice sprinkling of first team players on the pitch and many others on the side lines in support the Warriors were determined to take away the spoils in the Tamar Shield when they visited Polson Bridge.

Within 3 minutes of the start it looked as though the visitors were going to take the lead after a kick from open play by Dan Hawkes took the play to 15 metres short of the line. With Warriors taking the ball against the head they made a play for the line but were penalised just short of the try line.

The first points were scored by Jake Murphy, in the 15th minute, for Lanson when he broke through the Warriors' defence somewhat against the run of play in the 22 before running behind the posts to ensure that his conversion was going to be easier. With time running out and no tee available from the sidelines Jake drop kicked the conversion to take Lanson into the lead. 7 - 0

Warriors, in the shape of Dan Hawkes, failed to put points on the board 2 minutes later after Lanson were penalised for crossing. 

Wihan Neethling in his short hair cut makes a run down the right hand touchline with the support of Nat Saumi before Albion were again penalised short of the line and Lanson were able to clear the play from their line.

Warriors got their first points on the board in the 22nd minute after a penalty was kicked for the corner and at the lineout they took the catch and drive move over the line on the left hand side. Richard Oxley was last to get up from the pile with the ball. The angle was too much for Dan and score remained at 7 - 5.

With the damp conditions it is important to throw in with a dry ball, so Oxo took the opportunity of rubbing the ball on Mike Cox's fleece before throwing in the ball. This was from outside the 22 and another catch and drive move took the ball to within 5 metres line before the referee blow and gave the scrum to AllBlacks after Warriors were told to use it or lose it.

On 40 minutes Warriors again took the ball over with a driving maul but were unable to get the ball down and a scrum 5 was awarded.

in the final play of the half AllBlacks were penalised for going in the side of the maul that failed to get over the line. The resultant penalty was converted by Dan Hawkes to take Warriors in front for the first time in the match.

Keni Fisilau had taken a full part of the 1st half but was replaced by winger Ross Batten at the turn around. The impression I got is that this was always the intension and was part of Keni's return to full match fitness. He took and made a number of strong tackles.

AllBlacks tried twice, unsuccessfully, to add points by means drop goals. The first attempt was deflected and bounced back in play off the large post cushions and had to be pounced on by Mike Lewis to avoid a try by the chasing attack. The second went wide and resulted in a 22 drop out.

When Lanson were penalised for not releasing in front of the posts just 20 metres out and after a delay and discussions Dan Hawkes was asked to add 3 points, which he did with ease. 7 - 11.

 The drive move was used to take the ball over the line under the posts in the 12th minute of the half with Richard Oxley again collecting the points. With the extras Dan took the score to 7 - 18.

When captain Ross Allen was penalised for violent conduct the AllBlacks kicked for the corner and used the catch and drive move to take the maul over the line and pick up their final points. 12 - 18.

4 minutes into extra time Warriors used the catch and drive move working their way towards the line and with a penalty advantage being indicated the maul went over but this time the points were picked up by Ross Batten. 12 - 25.

In the 7th minute of extra time the remaining 5 replacements came onto the pitch for just 2 minutes of pitch time.

Ross Allen who had captained the side said that it felt strange doing the team talk to some of the 1st team players.

It was nice to see a Plymouth side work hard and pull off a good result. Whilst it was very much a forwards dominated performance it was good to see and worth comming out on a cold October evening.

Team: Wihan Neethling, Darren Ritchie, Keni Fisilau, Ross Allen, Nat Saumi, Daniel Hawkes, Nigel Cane, Scott Zimmerman, Richard Oxley, George Davis, Ed King, Ben Gulliver, Mike Lewis, Chris Lowrie, Jamie Tripconey Replacements: Matt Newman(used), Ross Batten(used), Craig Wilson(used), James Tichias(used), Steve Johns(used), Sam Roberts(used), Jamie Shone(used)

Scorers :- Tries 2x Richard Oxley Ross Batten Penalties 2x Daniel Hawkes Conversions 2x Daniel Hawkes

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