LAUNCESTON joint head coach Ian Goldsmith admits ‘we’ll realistically need to win all of our remaining games’ ahead of Saturday’s mouthwatering trip to Barnstaple in Regional One South West (2pm).

The All Blacks ground out a 19-15 victory over mid-table Lydney on Saturday thanks to James Tucker’s late try, a result which leaves them firmly in the mix for promotion to Step Four and National League rugby.

Leaders Brixham, who Launceston visit on the final day, have a two-point lead from Barnstaple with Launceston five behind Barum with a game in-hand.

Reflecting on Saturday’s victory, Goldsmith admitted the result was the main thing.

He said: “It was one of those performances where we played okay but okay shouldn’t have been good enough. There were a couple of elements to it which were pretty good, our defence and our maturity in the two inches which matter the most – in our brain. But there were things to work on.

“They did a proper number on us at the breakdown and the other was the lineout which didn’t function like it should. But a win is a win and there’s now a bit of a gap between Brixham, Barnstaple and ourselves from the rest.”

Goldsmith reserved praise for full-back Tucker and prop Charlie Short, who was introduced just before the half-hour mark.

He said: “Tucks was man of the match. He was excellent with his kick return and looked pretty threatening with ball in-hand and came up with the winning try. Charlie Short also had a very significant impact with his physicality and abrasive bulk.

“It was also good to see Lloyd back and he got about 30 minutes which will do him plenty of good. We also saw Jose (Luis Juarez) have a run-out in the warm-up which was great to see.”

Games don’t get much bigger than at Pottington Road on Saturday, and Goldsmith feels the loser is all but out of contention.

He said: “The winner is going to be putting some heat on Brixham and turn it into a two-horse race, but we know realistically if we’re going to win the league, we’ll have to win all of our remaining games.”

Barnstaple rarely lose in North Devon, but have shown signs of fragility in recent weeks, losing their unbeaten home record to Brixham before a shock 43-40 reversal at Ivybridge on January 11.

Goldsmith added: “They have an incredibly good home record at this level of rugby, but we’ll take a bit of confidence that we’ve pushed them really close a couple of times at their place and it’ll be a clash of styles.

“They’ll look to play territory, use their big forwards and maul a lot, whereas we’ll want to make it a bit more expansive.

“We’ll need to play at a faster tempo as they’re bigger than us instead of taking them on man for man, and we need to capitalise on every bit of space and use our footwork to create soft hits from them. But it’s a super club to go up to.

“They’ve got everything in place on and off the field, but it’ll come down to who can execute their gameplan better than the other.”

With the majority of the squad now fit, Goldsmith and Director of Rugby Ryan Westren are set for some interesting selection calls in the coming weeks.

Goldsmith concluded: “The only slight worry is Mitch Hawken going off with an elbow problem about ten minutes before the end on Saturday, but we’re in a good place.

“It’s been a bit stop-start since the Exmouth game just before Christmas, but we’ve now got several weeks of games and our performances should only improve.”