WHAT a difference a week makes.

The two pivotal factors behind Bournemouth’s success over Taunton last weekend evaded the Lions against Launceston as Tim Mathias’s try a minute from time snatched a narrow 27-22 success for the Cornish All Blacks.

Mathias struck the decisive blow as the visitors’ driving maul eventually bustled its way over the line with the Lions unable to repeat their last-ditch defending of the previous weekend.

It left the hosts rueing a rare bad day at the office for Ben Stevenson. Returning to fly-half after illness, the former London Irish star missed four of his six kicks in stark contrast to last week’s stand-in Dan Pollard, who registered points with every swing of the boot against Taunton.

And with Launceston’s Kieron Lewitt emulating Pollard’s success on Saturday, the visitors eventually snatched victory in a match where the lead changed hands five times.

Lions dominated the opening 40 minutes but fell behind after an awkward bounce deceived Eddie Edwards on the halfway line and Launceston took full advantage, running in the opening try through Richard Bright.

Undeterred, the Lions stuck to the game plan and confidently retained possession and territory, so it came as no surprise when Sam Hardcastle plucked the ball from a scrum inside Launceston’s 22 and shimmied his way over to put Bournemouth in front.

Frazer Wilford then drove over to hand the hosts a slender eight-point lead at the interval, but there was a sense of missed opportunity as Stevenson, despite kicking five points, also missed two relatively straightforward penalties and a conversion.

And with the visitors coming out for the second half with renewed impetus, the Lions soon fell behind. Richard Friend evaded the attentions of Luca Firetto and Charlie Grace to reduce the arrears with a clever try two minutes after the restart, before Lewitt added a brace of penalties to hand Launceston the initiative.

With Stevenson sin-binned, the game was ebbing away from the Lions, but with 14 men, they dug in and regained the lead through a penalty try following a trio of Launceston offences inside their own 22.

It seemed that would be enough, but Mathias’ late intervention ensured there would be no repeat of Bournemouth’s stubborn resistance of the previous week, highlighting the importance of kicked points in tight matches.

Lions: Trow (Pearce, 70), Edwards, Connolly (O’Brien, 51), Chislett, Stewart, Stevenson, Carrel (Featherstone, 68), Hardcastle, Manning, Firetto, Collier (Brooks, 63), Forrest, Wilford, Grace, Hart. Unused sub: Peart.

Bournemouth scorers: Tries – Hardcastle 17, Wilford 26, Penalty try 63. Penalty – Stevenson 13. Conversions – Stevenson 27, Chislett 64.

Launceston scorers: Tries – Bright 6, Friend 42, Mathias 79. Penalties – Lewitt 48, 56. Conversions – Lewitt 7, 43, 80.