Bradford & Bingley 24 Launceston 23

A Tom Rhodes penalty in the 16th minute of injury time earned Bradford & Bingley their first victory of the campaign.

Many in the Bees camp had been saying that they felt their side were on the verge of a special peformance but they seemed brave words considering they were bottom (played five, lost five) and were facing table-toppers (played five, won five).

And after 20 minutes a home victory looked a remote possibility as centre Steve Perry and fly half Sam Young had skipped through the Bees' defensive line for tries to make the score 12-3.

The Launceston pack looked significantly heavier than the home side and, perhaps more significantly, the visitors' back line appeared to have the upper hand physically.

Then suddenly, after 23 minutes, home winger Peter Sutcliffe snapped on to a quick pass from a maul and zipped up the right-hand touchline for a score.

This seemed to galvanise the home side and five minutes later an interception from Sutcliffe, converted by his skipper Tom Rhodes, put the Bees in front at 15-12.

The two No 10s exchanged penalties and the sides turned round at 18-15. However, as much of the first half had been played with a gale blowing at the Bees' backs, a three point lead looked like it would never be enough to see the home side home.

And soon after the restart, Launceston winger Nigel Simpson dotted down to restore his side's lead.

Nevertheless, the Bees refused to let their heads drop and, as the wind eased, they started to gain the upper hand in the tight exchanges.

As Launceston tried to batter their way over the line from line-outs and mauls, the home side remained resolute.

On the hour a Rhodes penalty sneaked his side in front and, as confidence grew, it appeared that the Wagon Lane men might be over-elaborating as they tried everything to keep the ball alive.

However, the men from Cornwall seemed to be walking into line-outs and were struggling to clear the ball from the back of their scrums.

They spurned an easy three points by choosing to kick for the corner but the Bees easily repelled the attack from the line-out and, as full-time approached, it was the Bees who were threatening to win.

Neil Spence was harshly adjudged to have knocked on five metres out but Young's three points deep into injury time were cancelled out by Rhodes' penalty after team-mate Joe Simpson had missed.