By Graham Cox
Kent will need to turn around a 59-point deficit if they are to keep their grip on the Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 1 title after a 73-14 thrashing by Cornwall in Saturday’s semi-final first leg.
It’s been an unprecedented period of success for Kent, with a hat-trick of County Championship crowns and, along the way, three straight victories over Cornish opposition, including wins at the Duchy fortresses of Camborne and Redruth.
This time, however, Kent failed to get any kind of foothold into the battlements of The Recreation Ground against a far more experienced outfit, built primarily around National League 2 West champions and host club Camborne. They face a Herculean task in the return fixture at Charlton Park on Saturday if they are to book a fourth successive trip to Twickenham.
“We travelled to Cornwall with our eyes open,” said Kent director of rugby Taff Gwilliam. “With virtually no National League players available to us, it was always going to be a very difficult game.
“The County Championship is an important competition to the community game, and we honoured it with a team that never gave up and showed great character against a powerful Cornwall team.
“It was a great experience for the players, and their positivity afterwards was testament to the character they showed. We look forward to the return at Charlton Park RFC on Saturday.”
Six of the Cornishmen’s 11 tries came before the interval. A 50:22 from Josh Matavesi gave them an early platform, the inside-centre then slipping through a gap to finish the move he’d started and, soon after, further phases of lineout ball saw tight-head Kye Beasley bash a way across the goalline.
A mistake saw Cornwall kick the ball dead, but the resultant Kent clearance found its way to Herbie Stupple, the Cornish No.8 breaking through the midfield before Alex Ducker released his opposite wing Matt Shepherd for the third try.
Kent repeatedly met a thickly-defended curtain wall, while for Cornwall, hooker Tom Cowan-Dickie was driven over and Ducker and Shepherd both glided across out wide for a try apiece. With full-back Kyle Moyle adding four conversions, the hosts led 38-0 at the break.
Scrum-half CJ Boyce added a couple more scores after the restart, but on 58 minutes Kent finally breached the ramparts as Harvey Young’s flat pass sent captain and inside-centre Sam Begbie on an arcing run across for a try.
Matavesi scored his second, and his replacement Will Hennessey another, but again Kent responded with blindside Lucas Hutton going under the uprights from a tap-and-go, with Bromley’s Jonathan Griffiths converting both tries.
However the last word fell to Cornwall when Ducker crossed with moments remaining.
Kent: Hawkins (Bromley), Ellison (Sidcup), Ilori (Old Albanian), Begbie (Sevenoaks), Ivell (Sevenoaks), Young (Bromley), Williams (Canterbury), MacMillan (Canterbury), Wagstaff (Westcombe Park), Wheeler (Blackheath), Irvine (Sevenoaks), Cole (Medway), Hutton (Sevenoaks), Englebrecht (Sevenoaks), Pangarker (Canterbury). Replacements: Large (Sidcup), Watson (Sidcup), Gibbons (Blackheath), Lienafa (Old Alleynians), Elliot (Bromley), MacKenzie (Canterbury), Griffiths (Bromley), Jones (Sevenoaks).
