Streetwise Cornwall back for more glory
CORNWALL will contest yet another County Championship Final at Twickenham next month after out-muscling Hertfordshire.
For most of this contest the lack of the hosts’ experience was sometimes painfully laid bare by a streetwise West Country outfit.
The reigning champions were not slow to take advantage and can probably claim four of their seven tries were scored in this fashion.
Home head coach Brett McNamee, the only Hertfordshire captain to lift the trophy in 2012, was full of praise for his young charges.
“This was our first competitive match in three years,” he said. “I know some of our players are upset. But they should feel proud of the way they displayed their talents and the attitude they brought to this occasion. We scored four tries against the guys who hold the cup, including the last of the day. We’ll take that experience into next year’s contest!”
Hertfordshire opened the scoring after seven minutes after conceding
the first two penalties of the day defending against a visiting early rush. The ball was overthrown at the lineout and Dan Watt broke clear. Elliot McPhun, his half-back partner, fed Josh Rudling who powered over.
The West Country men replied eight minutes later with a move from their own half finished sharply by full-back Matt Shepherd, who converted.
Cornwall were not to lose the resultant lead and it was becoming clear at this stage that defending a powerful ruck and maul game would be a problem for Herts.
Just into the second quarter, Alex Tucker’s sleight of foot saw him over close to the sticks and hooker Ben Priddy crossed four minutes later, both efforts improved by Fraser Honey.
Then came Herts’ best ten minutes when Watt and Nick Foster interplayed neatly and then Sam Jones tore over after some careful approach work by McPhun, both converted by Watt.
The third quarter saw the match taken out of the reach of the ‘Challengers’. Jack Simmons crossed virtually from the restart and Honey added a penalty to his conversion four minutes later. As the quarter hour beckoned, Toby Freeman and Jess Thomsett took advantage of home errors and Honey improved the first of these.
There followed 15 minutes of relative peace until Mike Austin ended a move started 80 metres downfield with another glitch in Herts’ handling. Honey brought up the half century.
Down, but not out, Hertfordshire fought on and were rewarded with a bonus point try from Jamie Hoyes.
Cornwall head coach Graham Dawe praised the efforts of his opponents but asserted how important this contest is to his county. “We look forward to the Twickenham trip in a couple of weeks and we’ll be taking Trelawney’s army with us!” he said.