Ryan Westren's thoughts on Launceston's 35-24 defeat to Royal Wootton Bassett.

Ryan Westren's thoughts on Launceston's 35-24 defeat to Royal Wootton Bassett

Transcript

00:00We're here with Launceston head coach Ryan Weston after today's defeat to the Royal

00:05Wharton Bassett. Ryan, what are your thoughts? It was a bit of a tough one to take to be honest.

00:10I think, I said to the boys at the end of the game, we defended for too long a period of time.

00:15I thought we actually defended pretty valiantly, but there's only so long you can defend for and

00:21not concede and their pressure told in the end. To be honest to them, I thought they were very

00:26deserved winners and a really good side. You scored just before half-time,

00:30which reduced the arrears to just four. How important was it to get that to then take that

00:35into the second half? Huge. We make a point of that all the time about those momentum swings and

00:41getting scores either side of half-time. We made a big point of that to try and go out in the second

00:45half and make sure we got that first score and put ourselves in a position to push on and win

00:49the game. Unfortunately, those things didn't go to plan. Again, they camped in our half for some

00:55sustained period of pressure and again, defended valiantly, but ultimately couldn't keep them out

00:59for long enough. Was it a case of not quite playing the territory as you would like throughout?

01:04Yeah, we made a big point of not letting them enter our space too much in terms of 22 into our

01:11half. But ultimately, they're a good side. I thought they moved the ball really well and

01:16in the end, come the end, we dropped off too many first-up tackles and gave them too much momentum

01:21in their phases and they punished us for it. Despite the result, there were some decent

01:25individual performances with Ben Hancock, Mitch Hawkins, etc. Who else did you think played well?

01:30Yeah, well, both of those have been fantastic in all five games so far, but I thought special

01:34mention to Finn Stiles. Brought into the bench late for a withdrawal, ended up having to start

01:40through a withdrawal. Man of the match performance from minute one to 80 is fantastic. Hopefully,

01:45that's the start of a long Cornshaw back career for them.

01:47Next week, things don't get easier with a trip to St Austell for a Cornish Derby, but a game which I

01:53guess is quite exciting to try and respond to this result. Yeah, it might be exactly what we need,

01:59you know, off the back of two defeats now. And, you know, go that Cornish Derby, it adds a bit of

02:04emotion, which gives you that little bit of a little bit of a fight. And we said all along about these

02:12games, all pre-season as well, about getting some resilience within us. I think that's been very

02:16apparent in all five games so far that we've been in the fight, we've been resilient,

02:20we've had that no talent stuff, that hard work, you know, that dogginess, that willingness to work

02:24for each other, which maybe at the back end of last season we lacked. And so that's been a big

02:28thing for us. And as a coach, in terms of that, yes, we haven't had the results, but in terms of that,

02:33then we've made big strides. And what type of game are you expecting down there?

02:36Yeah, like a typical Cornish Derby, probably a bit error strewn at the very start until teams settled.

02:44And then, you know, that typical Cornish battle. So I'd also like to throw the ball around a little

02:51bit, you know, we do. And I think both games last year, they were very good and obviously

02:57their second year in the league, they stepped up massively and hopefully it'll be a good battle.

03:01And you had two or three out today for various reasons. Are you hoping to have a few back?

03:05Yeah, it's a tough one with some of the injuries that we've got. You don't know quite on the time

03:08frame, but we'll be able to see how it pans out. But hopefully we've got a full squad to pick from

03:14and give us the best opportunity to go there and get a result.