The big Cornish derby failed to inspire a return to form for Redruth who have not won a league game since the Saturday before Christmas.

With hundreds of Reds fans making the journey up the A30 to Polson Bridge a crowd of 1,911 saw the Cornish All Blacks win comfortably in the end.

Outplayed in the opening quarter Redruth came back well in the second quarter and, although being second-best for long periods, will rue two missed penalty chances by Mark Scrivener.

With Paul Thirlby injured and Lewis Vinnicombe left out of the squad, Emyr Lewis on loan from Exeter Chiefs made his debut for the Reds in the number 14 shirt. Nathan Pascoe who injured his back in September came into the side for the injured James Mann.

Injuries to Nathan Pedley who may be out for six weeks and Mark Bright who injured an ankle will not help to improve morale in the Red camp.

With only 13 points out of a possible 30 in the last six league games the pressure of being at the top of the league seems to have affected Redruth who can’t repeat the outstanding form that brought some brilliant performances in the opening two months of the season.

Head coach Nigel Hambly, said: “It is new territory for us and we have got to adapt to it. The situation isn’t going to go away. We have got ourselves into a position where we have a chance to win the league, but it is played over 26 games. We have just got to keep fighting and battling. We are Redruth and that’s what we are all about.’ Polson was in good condition considering the heavy rain on Friday, as the hosts took a six-point lead in the opening 12 minutes by the Army player Mal Roberts originally from Illogan.

Redruth got back into the game with a penalty from in front of the posts by Scrivener after 17 minutes. With the front row going well Redruth were close to a try through Lewis on the half hour but the home defence was well organised.

Bright took his chance well to go over for a try from a rolling maul wide out on the right as the interval approached to put Redruth ahead albeit briefly.

A scuffle after the try was scored saw the game restart with a penalty to the All Blacks and this gave them the opportunity to create a penalty chance for Roberts to see Launceston go into the break leading 9-8.

Redruth were struggling in the line out, Tom Skelding was having a great all round game for Launceston backed up by Mike Myerscough and the Reds never looked likely to win in the second period. Gark Kindgon also on loan from Exeter showed his class at times.

The first try of the game came in the 72nd minute when Skelding and winger Marc Dibble made incursions down the right-hand side, before the ball was spun to the left, and good hands by Ryan Westren and Kingdom put winger Hamish Smales over in the left-hand corner, which made the conversion just too difficult for Roberts to slot.

Either side of that try, Scrivener missed two kickable penalties for the Reds, and they were made to pay for those squandered chances in injury time when the All Blacks scored the try that denied their rivals a losing bonus point.

A mistake by Rob Thirlby who failed to gather Steve Perry’s clever grubber kick towards the try line, and Roberts was on hand to pounced on the gift, to the delight of the home fans.

His conversion attempt hit the upright, and he also missed a 40-metre penalty effort soon after, but the damage had already been done and it was a gloomy drive home for some very disappointed Redruth fans.