CORNWALL ended a 16-year wait to get their hands on the County Championship when they defeated Lancashire in the final at Twickenham in 2015.

After two successive final defeats to Lancashire, it was to be third time lucky for Graham Dawe's side, who secured their fourth title.

The Black and Gold got their County Championship campaign off to the best possible start, recording a 27-8 bonus-point win at Dockham Road against Gloucestershire in their first pool game.

A penalty from scrum-half Matt Shepherd calmed Cornish nerves before Redruth’s young winger Robin Wedlake went in at the corner for the opening try, following a good surge by centre Nielson Webber.

Further good play from the Black and Golds, with fly half Lewis Webb and flanker Chris Fuca involved, saw Wedlake go over for his second score.

Craig Jackson finally got Gloucestershire on the board with a penalty, but Cornwall scored a third try as winger Steve Johns claimed a Webb crossfield kick to feed centre Jake Murphy, who scampered in.

Cornwall sealed the win just after half-time as Shepherd scored their fourth try, following more tremendous work from the forwards.

Superb defence kept Gloucestershire at bay until the dying moments when Leo Fielding got over, but by then it was too late.

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Jake Murphy scores. Pic: Simon Bryant

With the first game safely negotiated, the Black and Gold made the trip to Kent seven days later, knowing that victory would put their hopes of reaching the final once again firmly in their own hands.

Cornwall were made to work hard by hosts Kent, who began the game the stronger, enjoying territory and possession.

Slowly Cornwall got a foothold with Shepherd kicking the first of his penalties after 15 minutes.

They then piled on the pressure against the home-side who reduced to 14 as scrum-half Charlie Edwards was yellow-carded near his own line. Quick thinking by Shepherd saw the scrum-half take a tap and go and dive over the line for what proved to be Cornwall’s sole try of the afternoon, his conversion making it 10-0 to the Black and Golds.

Cornwall were then caught offside allowing fly-half Alex Gallagher to open Kent’s account with a penalty.

Shepherd was on target twice more before half-time to put Cornwall 16-3 up at the break as Kent again found themselves down to 14 again as lock Royce Cadman was sin-binned.

However, Kent showed their mettle early in the second half as they began to chip away at the lead with a couple of Gallagher penalties.

Man-of-the-match Shepherd calmed Cornish nerves with two further penalties with 10 minutes to play.

Cornwall found themselves under the cosh as Kent looked to salvage something from the game. Ben Hilton was sin-binned as the pressure mounted and eventually a powerful maul from the hosts saw them go over the line in time added on. Gallagher added the conversion to leave Cornwall sweating on the final whistle greeted by a huge cheer from the Cornish support.

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Matt Shepherd kicks a penalty for Cornwall. Pic: Smon Bryant

That set up a winner-takes-all final group stage tie with Hertfordshire in Redruth a week later, with the prize of a trip to Twickenham awaiting the victor.

The deadlock was broken by Matt Shepherd in the eighth minute when the visitors were penalised for being offside at a ruck, allowing the scrum-half to boot home a penalty from 45m out.

Defensive efforts from Cornwall were at the top of their game, but eventually a long spell of possession saw Herts go ahead. Following a kick being charged down by Dan Watt, the inside centre went onto finish move off before adding the conversion.

Shepherd missed an opportunity to close the gap a few minutes later from the kicking tee 30m out, but he made no mistake when he got a second chance from a similar position on the half hour mark.

Herts responded with a penalty and with possession staying in their hands, an up-and-under was plucked by Sam Winter to set up a try for Ralph Adams-Hales.

Watt made a mess of his conversion effort from near the posts, slicing it wide much to the pleasure of those in Hellfire Corner, but on the stroke of half time he made amends as he sent a penalty from 45m out between the posts.

What was desperately needed from Cornwall in the second half was an early score, something they managed to do three minutes in when Marriott went over after Shepherd pounced on a loose ball at a lineout from Herts near the halfway line.

The tide was turning as Shepherd cut the deficit further with another penalty after a crossing call and with the hosts grasping a stranglehold on the game, the scrum-half soon made it a one point game with another score from the kicking tee.

From the restart, winger Michael Allan took out Ben Hilton in air and was sinbinned, with the moment being taking advantage of by a now rampant Cornwall. Probing runs chipped away at Herts’ defence before Wedlake took the ball and darted over in the left corner.

As the game ticked towards the end of normal time, Shepherd extended his county’s lead to a converted try. Fingernails were bitten down to the end, but Cornwall stuck to their defensive structure which saw them home.

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Matt Shepherd celebrates scoring one of his two tries for Cornwall. Pic: Simon Bryant

That result set up a third trip to Twickenham in as many years, and just like the previous two finals, Cornwall were up against Lancashire, with the Northerners looking to bag a hat-trick of titles after winning 35-26 in 2013 and 36-26 in 2014.

Shepherd was the key Cornishman and after missing an early penalty, he made amends by running in a try from 25m out after three minutes, shrugging off a couple of challenges in the process.

Penalties were going either way as the slippery conditions tested the players’ grip and resolve.

Yet again Cornwall’s defence looked sturdy and made from girders, forcing Lancashire to opt for penalties to get on the scoreboard from Steve Collins and Chris Johnson.

With the second penalty they also gained a man advantage as lock Ben Hilton was sin-binned for not releasing near his own goal area, but when it seemed Lancashire could get on top they too had a player carded in the form of Chris Briers for using no arms in tackling Searle.

From the resulting penalty in front of the posts, Shepherd added another three points to make it 10-6 at half time.

The northerners desperately needed to score early on in the second half to get some momentum going, but shortly after Johnson’s drop goal effort went wide, Shepherd struck again.

From a line-out five metres from the try line, Chris Fuca patted the ball back to the scrum-half who spotted a gap and forced himself over despite having two men clinging onto him.

Cornish fans were starting to sense victory was within reach and they were reassured when Searle slotted home another penalty for them, making it a two score game.

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Cornwall skipper Kyle Marriott and former captain Ben Hilton lift the County Championship title surrounded by their team-mates. Pic: Simon Bryant

However, tension gripped the Trelawny’s Army when in the 72nd minute Searle got sin-binned and 60 seconds later, Lancashire skipper Evan Stewart dotted down for a try which Johnson converted.

It set up a massive final five minutes for both sides, but despite their upper hand, Lancashire found carrying the ball in their own mitts was a task too difficult to complete.

With one final knock-on by Paul Arnold and time gone, referee James Sullivan blew the full-time whistle and sparked wild Cornish celebrations.