By Graham Cox
Kent are one win from a third successive Bill Beaumont County Championship crown after beating hosts Cornwall 34-18 to book another trip to Twickenham.
Sixteen points may look a reasonably conclusive margin of victory, but Saturday’s Division 1 Pool 2 contest, on a cool breezy afternoon in Redruth, remained on a knife-edge until the closing stages.
Indeed, had Ben Plummer not placed a foot in touch on the hour-mark, as the St Austell wing sped towards the large and vociferous Cornish support gathered at Hellfire Corner, the host county might have nudged ahead on the scoreboard for the first time.
As it was, Kent’s superb lineout drill lifted them out of defence and five minutes later skipper Rafael Dutta was taking charge of a Cornish clearance. With Kent moving forward quickly through their phases, the ever-lively Westcombe Park scrum-half Mikel Davies snuck through a gap and, despite a stumble, crossed for the visitors’ fourth try.
Sam Evans added the conversion to turn what could have been a one-point deficit into a 13-point advantage for the visitors, the fly-half then scored a late penalty just to make sure in yet another exemplary kicking display from the Tonbridge Juddians player.
“There were a lot of momentum shifts throughout, but we came together when we were under the pump a bit, remained calm, and decided to kick a bit more ball to put pressure on them,” said Evans.
“We’ve got some classy lineout operators in Rafael [Dutta], Charlie Self and Tom Stradwick, and huge credit to Mikel, who’s young but showed great maturity in his game-management from scrum-half.
“[A] big shout out for Cornwall, too. They never gave up and kept coming at us for 80 minutes. I’m proud of all our boys for the effort they put in.”
From the start, Kent showed great commitment, putting in some huge tackles and not allowing the Cornishmen to settle.
On nine minutes a charged-down kick caused confusion in the Cornwall defence and with the ball hacked on, Ben Charnock was quick to ground for the opening try.
Two fine kicks to touch from fly-half Dan Rutter put Cornwall in close-enough range to drive hooker Tom Cowan-Dickie across, reducing the arrears, but twice the hosts impeded as Kent mauled off lineout ball, a third collapse resulting in a penalty try.
Moments later, Charnock caught the Cornishmen with a lightning burst from the base of a scrum on the halfway line, the Blackheath No.8 neatly cutting inside to beat the lone defender, and although Cowan-Dickie crashed over for his second try, again from close-range, Kent held a 21-10 lead at the break.
Evans extended the advantage with three-points following a high tackle after the restart, but the third quarter was Cornwall’s strongest period as they began to gain an upper hand in both scrum and the maul.
Full-back Matt Shepherd cancelled out Evans’ strike with a penalty on 50 minutes, and as Kent full-back Bryan Hotston was kept busy, and the visitors’ defence was stretched from side to side, the space was created for Camborne wing Harry Larkins to score out wide.
Straight from the restart, Plummer was sent at pace down the right flank to the roar of the predominantly black and gold crowd. However, delight turned to disappointment as play was hauled back for the lineout, and with Kent regaining the control they had displayed in the opening period, the county champions booked their place in the final against either Lancashire or Yorkshire on June 21.
Kent squad: Hotston (Dorking), Kendrick (Tonbridge Juddians), Talbot (Tonbridge Juddians), Osgood (Tonbridge Juddians), Jones (Canterbury), Evans (Tonbridge Juddians), Davies (Westcombe Park), Boon (Tonbridge Juddians), Wagstaff (Westcombe Park), Ganley (Esher), Self (Tonbridge Juddians), Stradwick (Blackheath), Dutta (captain, Westcombe Park), Vince Everitt (Tonbridge Juddians), Charnock (Blackheath), Wagstaff (Westcombe Park), Muhlemann (Westcombe Park), Frostick (Canterbury), Duaibe (Tonbridge Juddians), Ridge (Tonbridge Juddians), Fryatt (Westcombe Park), Williams (Canterbury), Begbie (Sevenoaks).
