Cornwall 73 Kent 14 

The Recreation Ground 

It’s been an unprecedented period of success for Kent, with a hat-trick of County Championship crowns and, along the way, three straight victories over Cornwall, including wins at the Duchy fortresses of Camborne and Redruth. 

This time, however, Kent failed to get any kind of foothold into the battlements of The Recreation Ground in Camborne, a far more experienced Cornwall outfit (built primarily around National League 2 West champions, and host club, Camborne) repelling their invaders, and giving them a Herculean task to overturn this result in the return fixture at Charlton Park next Saturday. 

Six of the Cornishmen’s eleven tries came before the interval. 

An early 50:22 from Josh Matavesi gave the Cornishmen an early platform, the inside-centre then slipping through a gap to finish the move he’d started and, soon after, further phases off lineout ball saw tight-head Kye Beasley bash a way across the goal-line. 

A mistake saw Cornwall kick the ball dead, but the resultant Kent clearance found its way to Herbie Stupple, the Cornish number-eight breaking through the midfield before Alex Ducker released his opposite wing Matt Shepherd for try number three. 

Kent repeatedly met a thickly-defended curtain wall, while for Cornwall, hooker Tom Cowan-Dickie was driven over, and Ducker and Shepherd both glided across out wide for a try apiece, and with full-back Kyle Moyle adding four conversions, the Duchy led 38-0 at the break. 

Scrum-half CJ Boyce added a couple more scores after the re-start, but on 58 minutes Kent finally breached the ramparts as Harvey Young’s neat flat pass sent captain and inside-centre Sam Begbie on arcing run across for a try. 

Matavesi scored his second, and his replacement Will Hennessey another, but again Kent responded with blind-side Lucas Hutton going under the uprights from a tap-and-go, but the last word fell to Cornwall as Ducker crossed with moments remaining. 

‘We travelled to Cornwall with our eyes open,’ said Kent Director of Rugby Taff Gwilliam. ‘With virtually no National League players available to us, it was always going to be a very difficult game.’ 

‘The County Championship is an important competition to the community game, and we honoured it with a team that never gave up and showed great character against a powerful Cornwall team.’ 

‘It was a great experience for the players, and their positivity afterwards was testament to the character they showed.’ 

‘We look forward to the return at Charlton Park RFC on Saturday. 

The match at Broad Walk on Saturday is a 2.00 pm kick-off. 

Cornwall 

Tries: Matavesi 5, 62, Beasley 10, Shepherd 15, 40, Cowan-Dickie 24, Ducker 34, 78, Boyce 43, 46, Hennessey 72 

Conv: Moyle 5, 10, 24, 40, 43, 46, 62, 73, 78 

Kent 

Tries: Begbie 58, Hutton 75 

Conv: Griffiths 58, 75 

Attendance: 2,463