As he prepares to step down after more than 40 years service on the CRFU, past President David Martin reflects on a unique season for Cornish representative rugby.

A time to reflect and appreciate the achievements of Cornwall’s County XVs. Never obtained before, Cornwall’s three representative teams brought back across the Tamar the Bill Beaumont Cup, the Jason Leonard Cup and the Gill Burns Division Three Trophy.

Congratulations must go, not only to the players involved, but to the Selectors, Coaches, Physios and Back-up Staff who so ably supported the teams on the field. Thanks go to Trelawny’s Army for their ever-loyal support at Camborne, Redruth, Launceston, Hayle, Dorchester, Hertford, Wigan, Worcester, Richmond and Twickenham.

None of this would be possible without the financial backing of St.Austell Brewery, Jewson, O’Neills, Kelsall Steele Investment Services Limited, Eden Project, Trelawny’s Army, Hopley’s and RRL. The CRFU is extremely grateful.

            BILL BEAUMONT COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP CUP FINAL

   CHESHIRE 24 POINTS – CORNWALL 37

Will Trewin    try

Jack Oulton  2 tries

Fraser Honey 4 cons

                                 3 pens

Cheshire’s squad comprised 15 players from Caldy RFC and 6 from Sale FC.

Caldy topped the National League 1, winning 23 of their 28 matches played and Sale were second winning 22 matches. Cornwall’s squad included 12 players from the Redruth Club that plays in National League 2 South. So, on paper, Cheshire were clear favourites, but this show-down was to be played on the hallowed turf of the RFU’s Twickenham Stadium not on paper! Cheshire’s confidence was clear to see – one of their committee told us to expect a 100 point beating!

Cornwall did not read the script! They quickly went into a 14 point lead with two magnificent tries, but, as was to be expected, Cheshire hit back and dominated the exchanges for long periods. However Cornwall’s defence was solid and well organised and stood firm.

A decisive factor was the immaculate kicking of Fraser Honey who not only landed 3 penalty goals but kicked all 4 conversions. The game was put beyond doubt by one of the best individual tries seen at Twickenham. In ‘time-added-on’ replacement scrum-half Mike Austin took a pass from his skipper Kyle Marriott in his own ‘22’ and ran 80 metres plus, shrugging off a number of would-be tacklers, to score under the posts and send the multitude of Trelawny’s Army into raptures!

This memorable victory took Cornwall’s total to seven Championship wins, adding to 1908, 1991, 1999, 2015, 2016 and 2019, and completed the treble – the Under 20s and the Women had already won their trophies.

    JASON LEONARD UNDER 20 COUNTY FINAL

CORNWALL 24 POINTS – KENT 21

                                    Sam Walker                 try, 3 cons, pen

                                    Declan Prowse            try

                                    Pat Walton                  try

      GILL BURNS DIVISION 3 COUNTY FINAL

    CORNWALL WOMEN 36 POINTS – NOTTS. LINCS & DERBY 17

                                    Tia Larsen                               2 tries

                                    AmyBunt                                2 tries

                                    Emma Stefanotti                     2 tries

                                    Holly Williams                        2 cons

                                    Faith Rowe                             con

POST-MATCH TWICKENHAM INTERVIEWS – PART 1

By Bill Hooper

Following both the men’s and women’s finals I was able to catch up with some of the major players from both games.

First of all I spoke with Matt Shepherd on a day which was understandably very emotional for him. I asked him first up how many wins in the finals. “That’s win number four, not bad from eight finals.

“I wasn’t alone out there today, Dad was there with me and the boys have looked after me, to have great team mates around you is so reassuring. They had collection to buy me some new boots, something Bernie did every time Shep played at Twickenham, and for his name to be put on the match day shirts, that was such an amazing surprise, it was overwhelming.

Asked about the fast start. “We won the game twice, in the first and eighty minutes, we knew it would be hard against this Cheshire side but we found a way to get the win.

Asked about the half-time huddle. “Kyle told us that we would face a big response from Cheshire and it came, but we managed to snuck in there and take points when the opportunities  came along, I thought our game management was excellent.

Next up the victorious Cornwall captain Kyle Marriott. “That’s my personal hat-trick of lifting the Bill Beaumont Cup as captain at Twickenham, a very pleasing stat for me. It’s been an amazing day, what a team, what a squad , what a county.

I asked him about the start to the game. “It was a dream start but I knew this Cheshire side weren’t going away. I said to the boys before the game, we will find ourselves with our backs against the wall and we will need to dig deep and we showed that in periods during the second half. When we lost Will (Trewin) to the sin-bin we needed to show some control, we didn’t always do it but I feel we managed Jack’s (Simmons) sin-bin far better.

Despite conceding four tries, some of Cornwall’s defending at times was heroic. “I thought we defended far better today than in the previous two games, we made them play the phases and made them play extra ones which brought some turnovers for us.

Asked about the big call near the end when with a penalty just 5 meters out, he opted for the points. “It was a big call, I felt that to have that cushion of six points would make them have to play and I was confident in our defence, and that’s how it played out they pressed and left half a gap for Mikey (Austin) to motor through for the clinching score.

I then caught up with assistant coach Marek Churcher. “Well I think I’ve grown some more grey hairs after that 80 minutes, but I am getting used to that now. I couldn’t be prouder of the lads today, they stuck at it for the full eighty. We had a great start but we knew Cheshire would come back at us given the talent they have, our patience in both attack and crucially defence won us that game, also our decision making and the way we managed both sin-binnings, that was key.

“This is an historic day for Cornish rugby, to hold three trophies at the end of a season is a remarkable achievement, the bar was set by our Under 20s and both the senior squads have risen to the challenge.  

Marek was full of praise for the Cornish supporters. “Their support goes a long way in helping us when the going gets tough, to have that 16^th man behind you gives the boys that little lift, they sang us home.”

Finally I grabbed a few words from Cornwall’s final try scorer Mike Austin. “I thought I’d never get there it felt like 110 meters the try-line just didn’t come quick enough but the crowd got me there. I just put my head down and went for it, opportunities to score at Twickenham don’t come around too often.

Asked how he viewed the game. “We did let them in a bit after half-time but it’s an 80 minute game and I knew we could find something to see us home.

BILL BEAUMONT CUP FINAL

CHESHIRE 24 – 37 CORNWALL

By Bill Hooper at Twickenham Stadium

Cornwall retained the Bill Beaumont Cup to cap an unprecedented season that sees them hold three county cup titles from their representative sides.

Prior to kick-off there was a minute’s applause for Bernie Shepherd, Matt Shepherd’s father who sadly passed away shortly after the Hertfordshire game. There were thoughts also for former Cornwall player Neil Douch who passed away this week, also it was poignant to remember Dave “Benji” Thomas.  

Roared on by Trelawny’s Army, Cornwall kicked off and within a minute had opened the scoring. The Black and Golds secured the ball with fly-half Fraser Honey firing out a long pass to Alex Ducker, the winger slipped the ball to his full-back Will Trewin, who still had work to do, but he scored in the corner, with Honey adding the touchline conversion.

Soon Cornwall cut loose again, centre Duncan Tout carved through the centre with his partner Jack Simmons in support, an inside ball to Jack Oulton saw the scrum-half in under the posts, no trouble for Honey with the extras and Cornwall were in dreamland.

Cheshire re-grouped and put Cornwall under long periods of pressure but once again the Cornish defence proved up to the mark.

The Cornwall back row of skipper Kyle Marriott, Sam Stevens and Ben Fox were getting through a lot of hard work at the breakdown, whilst at the coalface props Tommy Phillips, Jess Tompsett along with hooker Ben Priddey battled hard against the formidable Cheshire front three.  

Honey missed with a penalty kick attempt but he was back on song to convert Cornwall’s third try, great work from the forwards saw hooker Ben Priddey in space, his pass to Oulton put him in at the corner scoring with aplomb.

Cheshire ended the half knocking on the Cornwall door, as the penalty count against the black and gold mounted with Trewin taking a yellow for the team.

The men from the North got their reward early in the second half when their captain No.8 Josiah Dickinson powered over for the first of his three tries, James Robbins added the conversion.

The same combination doubled the Cheshire tally soon after as they began to creep closer to Cornwall on the scoreboard, the black and Golds lost Simmons to the sin-bin, now was the time for the supporters to get behind the team. Nerves were soothed as Honey kicked a penalty to nudge Cornwall two scores ahead, but that was short-lived as Cheshire’s wing Tom Walsh exploited an overlap to score an unconverted try in the corner.

Cornwall’s bench was emptied as they looked for fresh legs to see them home  

Good work from replacement scrum-half Mikey Austin and wing Alex Ducker brought another penalty for Cornwall in front of the posts, which Honey slotted.

It was all set for a dramatic finale, Dickinson got his third try from a catch and drive, crucially unconverted, before another Tout snipe set up a penalty for Honey that gave Cornwall a six point buffer.

With the game in the final minute and the Cornish crowd nervously awaiting the final whistle, skipper Kyle Marriott broke from a scrum on his twenty-two and found Austin, who went through the gears right up the middle of the pitch, eluding some desperate Cheshire tackles, his momentum took him to the line to confirm Cornwall’s win with Honey administering the coup de grace sending the Cornish supporters into full party mode.

After the game Cornwall assistant coach Marek Churcher was delighted with his side’s performance. “We weren’t complacent after our fast start, we knew this Cheshire side would come back strongly and ask us questions, but I was pleased with the way we managed the game and took our opportunities to keep our noses ahead. “         

Cheshire (Caldy unless stated): Barlow, Walsh (Sale FC), Titherington, Robbins (Sale FC), Jones, Hinchcliffe, Murray; Rushton, Hearn, Salisbury (Anselmians), Gerrard, Priestly-Nagel (Sale FC), Crowe, Ridgeway, Dickinson (Capt).

Replacements: Aigbokhae, Higginson, Longmore, Taharoui (Sale FC), Tebbatt (Sale FC), Robinson, Moorhouse (Sale FC).

Cheshire scores: Tries Dickinson (3), Walsh, Cons, Robbins (2)

Cornwall (Redruth unless stated): Trewin, Shepherd (St. Austell), Simmons, Tout (Tonbridge Juddians), Ducker (Plymouth Albion), Honey, Oulton; Phillips, Priddey (Camborne), Tompsett, Freeman (Tonbridge Juddians), Whittle (Falmouth), Fox, Stevens, Marriott (St. Austell, Capt).

Replacements: Barnes, Brown, Williams, Hilton (Barnstaple), Pascoe, Austin (Cinderford), Bradley.

Cornwall scores: Tries, Trewin, Oulton 2, Austin, Cons, Honey 4, Pens, Honey 3

Referee: Jonathan Cook

It’s been a long time coming, since Ben Hilton lifted the Bill Beaumont Cup in 2019, he has been waiting to get that elusive 50th appearance for Cornwall. Well the opportunity came at long last on Saturday when Ben came on as a replacement against Hertfordshire.

Congratulations Ben, we salute you for all you have done for Cornish rugby over the years, from that first cap against Quimper in 2007 to the present day you have been an inspiration and motivator, an advocate for the processes put in place that see Cornwall’s representative sides enjoying the successes they are this season.

Again well done on your achievement.