A MUCH-CHANGED Cornwall team were soundly beaten by Hertfordshire in their final County Championship game at Bishop’s Stortford RFC on Saturday.

With their hopes of reaching a sixth successive Twickenham final dashed by defeat to Devon last weekend, Cornwall made nine changes to the team with several players unavailable.

Instead it is Hertfordshire who will grace rugby HQ, who emerge as Southern section winners after running in eight tries against the Black and Gold in a ruthless display.

The first of the eight came early on with hooker Steff Jones going over for the home side, with fly-half Sean Taylor kicking the conversion.

Cornwall were very much in the game through the majority of the first half but were dealt a huge blow in the final ten minutes, as lock Harry Green and no. 8 Chris West both scored tries for Herts.

Taylor converted Green’s to give the hosts a 19-0 half-time lead.

The Black and Gold huffed and puffed but could not break the hosts’ defence down when given the chance, and West bagged his second try of the game in the second half to secure the bonus point and kill any fleeting hopes of a Cornish revival.

With the match over as a contest, Hertfordshire ran in four more tries in the final 20 minutes to further emphasise the gulf between the two sides on the day.

Centre James Rea, winger Luke Barber, flanker Nick Radley and Rob Conquest were the try scorers, with Taylor converting Rea’s and Radley’s to complete the scoring as Herts reached the half-century mark fore the second week in a row.

Despite a disappointing campaign in which they failed to win any of their three pool matches, last year’s success ensures that Cornwall will remain in Division One South for 2019 and 2020.

Next year’s three pool opponents will be from Devon, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire and Kent.

Cornwall: 15 M Vague (Penryn), 14 W Morton (Saltash), 13 S Hitchens (Penryn), 12 J Dawe (Launceston), 11 D Pearce (Launceston), 10 J Murphy (capt) (Barnstaple), 9 T Peacock (Camborne), 1 A Zacharovas (Camborne), 2 M Ballard (Wadebridge Camels), 3 J Drew (Camborne), 4 B Hilton (Barnstaple), 5 J Heazelton (Truro), 6 L Wells (Saltash), 7 G Jones (Penryn), 8 L Duke (Launceston). Reps: T L Southworth (Camborne), Z Cinnamond (Launceston), A Hodges (Liskeard-Looe), O Seagrove (Truro), A Hughes (Penryn), N Nash (Brixham), R McAtee (Camborne).