Cornwall 18 Kent 34
The Recreation Ground (Match report by Graham Cox)
Sixteen-points may look a reasonably conclusive margin of victory, but this contest, on a cool breezy afternoon in Redruth, remained on a knife-edge until the closing stages.
Indeed, had Ben Plummer not placed a foot in touch on the hour-mark, as the St Austell wing sped towards the large and vociferous Cornish support gathered at Hellfire Corner, the host county might have nudged ahead on the scoreboard for the first time.
As it was, Kent’s superb lineout drill lifted them out of defence, and five minutes later, skipper Rafael Dutta was taking charge of a Cornish clearance. With Kent moving forward quickly through their phases, the ever-lively Westcombe Park scrum-half Mikel Davies snuck through a gap and, despite a stumble, crossed for the visitors’ fourth try.
Sam Evans added the conversion to turn what could have been a one-point deficit into a 13-point advantage for the visitors, the fly-half adding a late penalty, just to make sure, in yet another exemplary kicking display from the Tonbridge Juddian.
‘There were a lot of momentum shifts throughout, but we came together when we were under the pump a bit, remained calm, and decided to kick a bit more ball to put pressure on them,’ said Sam.
‘We’ve got some classy lineout operators in Rafael (Dutta), Charlie Self and Tom Stradwick, and huge credit to Mikel who’s young, but showed great maturity in his game-management from scrum-half.’
‘Big shout out for Cornwall too. They never gave up, and kept coming at us for 80 minutes. I’m proud of all our boys for the effort they put in.’
From the start, Kent showed great commitment, putting in some huge tackles and not allowing the Cornishmen to settle.
On nine minutes a charged-down kick caused confusion in the Cornwall defence and with the ball hacked on, Ben Charnock was quick to ground for the opening try.
Two fine kicks to touch from fly-half Dan Rutter put Cornwall in close-enough range to drive hooker Tom Cowan-Dickie across, reducing the arrears, but twice the hosts impeded as Kent mauled off lineout ball, a third collapse resulting in a penalty try.
Moments later, Charnock caught the Cornishmen with a lightning burst from the base of a scrum on the halfway line, the Blackheath number-eight neatly cutting inside to beat the lone defender, and although Cowan-Dickie crashed over for his second try, again from close-range, Kent held a 21-10 lead at the break.
Evans extended the advantage with three-points following a high tackle after the re-start, but the third quarter was Cornwall’s strongest period as they began to gain an upper hand in both scrum and the maul.
Full-back Matt Shepherd cancelled out Evans’ strike with a penalty on 50 minutes, and as Kent full-back Bryan Hotston was kept busy, and the visitors’ defence was stretched from side to side, the space was created for Camborne wing Harry Larkins to score out wide.
Straight from the re-start, Plummer was sent at pace down the right flank to the roar of the predominantly black and gold crowd.
However, delight turned to disappointment as play was hauled back for the lineout, and with Kent regaining the control they had displayed in the opening period, the current county champions booked their place in the final at Twickenham on 21st June, where they will look for a third successive title.
Cornwall
Tries: Cowan-Dickie 21, 36, Larkins 59
Pens: Shepherd 50
Kent
Tries: Charnock 9, 28, Penalty 25, Davies 65
Conv: Evans 9, 28, 65
Pens: Evans 44, 79
