CORNWALL head coach Graham Dawe hailed his squad as they secured the Bill Beaumont County Championship for the first time in four years with a 39-24 victory over Lancashire at the Allianz Stadium in Twickenham on Saturday.

After trailing 10-7 early on, Cornwall responded with 17 unanswered points going into the break before the northern county responded to level the game early in the second half.

A remarkable try-saving intervention by fly-half Dean Wills stopped Lancashire going in front following a sin-binning for centre Josh Matavesi, but once the former Fijian internation returned to the fray, Cornwall kicked on as further tries from Matavesi and Max Bodilly secured an eighth triumph in their long history.

Reflecting on a thrilling evening in South West London, Dawe said: “We’re absolutely delighted. We’ve come up short to Kent in the last three years, always by a score, and it was a real team effort on Saturday.

“The scoreline looks like it was pretty comfortable, but it certainly wasn’t and Lancashire really did play their part, but we have some pretty special players who came together and got us over the line.”

Dawe continued: “At scrum time we had the dominance, maybe not so much at the line-out, but we were able to start a lot of good attacks of those and played some pretty good rugby.

“There were also some big moments in the game. Sam’s decision to kick for goal before half-time, which was brilliantly slotted by Kyle Moyle, gave us a bit of a cushion as we knew they’d come into it as you can’t just attack in a game for 80 minutes. I thought we also defended really well for the 10 minutes that Josh was off for the yellow card.

“But probably the biggest of them all was the try-saving tackle by Dean Wills as that took the wind out of their sails a bit. He had another excellent game and probably really enjoyed the quality and experience he had on the outside.”

Cornwall were backed by several thousand fans, many of whom made the long trip up to the capital, and Dawe hailed their efforts.

He continued: “They’ve really supported us well since the last time we managed to get here, and as usual they made a lot of noise. They got behind the team when needed.”

The long-serving Dawe admits he is unsure what the future holds. He continued: “It’s too early to say at the minute, but I think the RFU will need to sit down and work out what they want to do with the competition as at the moment there are only four teams in Division One – two in the North and two in the South. It’d also be better if the dates are given out a lot earlier so people can plan.

“But we’re really, really pleased. To not get to the final for the last three years was disappointing, but those times make you work that bit harder and make those really good moments that much sweeter.

“I’d also like to say a big thank you to the all backroom staff and people behind the scenes. The players get looked after really well which gives us the best chance to be successful on the pitch.”

As well as success for the men at HQ, Cornwall Women also landed the Gill Burns Cup, claiming a 46-27 win over Durham.