LAUNCESTON joint head coach Ian Goldsmith pulled no punches with his side’s performance as they were beaten 37-20 by one-league lower Wadebridge Camels in the rearranged Cornwall RFU Super Cup final on Saturday.

The showpiece was rearranged from the summer due to a fixture pile-up, but the All Blacks continued their hangover which has seen them lose their last 10 games.

Their Regional Two South West opponents did enjoy home advantage, but were by far the better side as they ran in five tries to Launceston’s three which came from Ollie Bebbington (2) and Corey Jenkinson. To make matters worse for the Blacks, they conceded 24 points between minutes 35 and 45 as the Camels built up a 34-10 lead.

A disappointed Goldsmith, who saw his slide slip away from promotion contention in January to finish fifth in Regional One South West, admitted his side need to turn the tide and fast.

He said: “The area which we’re struggling the most with is the mental side of things.

“Every loose ball they got there first and we were also done for holding on six or seven times which indicates which team had the desire to get there first.

“It was a final and you only get one shot at it and we’re clearly struggling with the fact we haven’t won since January, and until we get a win we’ve just got to battle it out.”

He continued: “The turnovers tell you as a whole we didn’t fight hard enough on the floor, didn’t work as hard as Wadebridge and they were better in defence and at using the width of the pitch.

“Ryan (Westren, joint head coach and director of rugby) was also disappointed that we created some chances in the first half and didn’t take them. We had two or three either three on twos or two on ones which you need to be taking, but we didn’t.

“We’ve just got to do whatever we can on Saturday against Okehampton to get a win leading into the Topsham game.

“The week before against Penzance and Newlyn we saw a team full of application and effort, but on Saturday only a handful of players can say they really did that.”

The second staging of the Borders Cup takes place on Saturday as the first team welcome old rivals Okehampton to Polson Bridge (1pm) either side of the Colts (10.30am) and ladies (3pm) taking on their Oke counterparts.

Asked what needed to be improved, he said: “From the forwards our lineout needs to function better and we need to be more aggressive and willing to work hard in defence, while in the backs we need to be more clinical and finish off our opportunities.

“But Saturday is perfect preparation for what we need as it’s a team that will come at us and ensure it feels like a proper league game.”

Goldsmith did find the odd positive.

He concluded: “Charlie Tummon put in a big shift and was excellent and George Bone made a real impact when he came on.

“In the backs, James Tucker managed the game well at 10 and Cam Fogden and Ollie Bebbington made some good runs, but as a whole we need to be much, much better.”