Cornwall focused on securing Twickenham final

Cornwall will take "nothing for granted" despite having a 59-point aggregate lead going into Saturday's second leg of their County Championship semi-final against Kent.

The Black and Gold travel to Charlton Park RFC having beaten the three-time defending champions 73-14 last week.

The winners will face Lancashire in the final at Twickenham next weekend to play for the Bill Beaumont Cup.

"The guys still need to go out and do it," chairman of selectors Kevin Thomas told BBC Radio Cornwall.

"I've played in plenty of games over the years where you think you've got things right, but things haven't gone right.

"Certainly last Saturday that wasn't the case, from one to 23 they all fired and played some great rugby.

"So we're very much looking to try and replicate that and get the job done, and then you know our minds can turn to something different."

Cornwall have made three changes from the side that ran in 11 tries against Kent at Camborne last week - all in the forwards.

Props Archie Rolls and Sam Rodman are promoted from the bench while their Camborne team-mate Jago Shepherd starts at lock in place of Redruth's Ed Pascoe.

Cornwall are led by forward Sam Matavesi with his brother, and fellow Fiji international Josh playing at centre alongside former Exeter back Max Bodilly while former Gloucester and Cornish Pirates full-back Kyle Moyle is part of a strong side.

"It's the first time I think for probably three years that we've pulled together the squad that we wanted," added Thomas.

"It hasn't been hit by injuries and unavailability, so we've pulled together a good group of individuals and they've trained exceptionally well.

"They've really got themselves into it, bearing in mind the vast majority have come off hard, long competitive seasons and we're asking them to play another full month of rugby in the in the summer months pretty much.

"They've just really got up for it, but that's what playing for Cornwall means."

Meanwhile Cornwall's Women travel to North Midlands on Sunday hoping to secure their own spot at Twickenham.

They are in the semi-finals of the second tier of the County Championship having thrashed Berkshire 86-0 and beaten rivals Devon 26-17 last week to top their pool and earn a place in the last four.

"I think we've got such a talented bunch at the moment," Cornwall coach Jo Holden said.

"We prepare for a team the same way we always do, we look at our game and we kind of focus on the things that we can make better, because especially at county level you never know what players they could bring in or not bring in.

"We look at what we've got and how we can make that better and we're very lucky this year with the talent that we've got in the Cornish squad.

"We've got some fantastic impact players that can change a game as well, so we are extremely lucky this year."

It is a return to the semi-final stages for the first time in two years for Cornwall after losing at Durham in 2024.

It is the third time they have reached the knockout stages since being promoted as Division Three champions in 2022.

"We've been in this position before - we went away to Durham and unfortunately didn't get the result that we wanted," added Holden.

"So again we have to learn that lesson, we have to go 'it's this game'.

"I've said at the beginning of this campaign we're aiming for four games in this championship, and we're on three, so we focus on three, and if we can get to four, then we'll start to really push for that spot."