Northumberland claimed the County Championship Shield by scoring four well-taken tries to see off Cornwall at Twickenham.

Scores from the Tynedale trio of Jack Smales, Gavin Beasley and Andrew Murray took them to the brink of victory before Morpeth wing Peter Cole finished the job, with Beasley adding a penalty and conversion.

Cornwall have a fantastic county rugby history to draw on, dating back 100 years to their first title victory against Durham and encompassing the fairytale 1991 victory against Yorkshire when they turned a 16-3 deficit into a memorable 29-20 victory.

But the latest chapter was a disappointing one and they couldn't get out of second gear until Redruth's Paul Thirlby scored early in the second half with Marc Scrivener adding two penalties before Cole slammed the door shut.

"It was always going to be tough because they were a good side and they bring a pride and passion to their game with a big support, so we knew we had to be at our best," said Northumberland captain David Guthrie.

"We set a good platform and with the pace we have from nine, 10 and outside we knew we were going to score tries.

"For 10 minutes or so at the start of the second half we had our backs to the wall, but we came back from that and scored a great try through Peter Coles."

"We probably gave away 17 points today with the mistakes we made and you've got to be absolutely watertight," said Cornwall coach David Thomas.

"We didn't play to our potential, Northumberland were a very good side and we lost a lot in contact, so we didn't have enough ball to get the side moving.

"It's disappointing for all the players and for the spectators who gave us such great backing.

"Our target now is to come back next year in the final of the Bill Beaumont Cup."