Lancashire retained their County Championship title in a classic final, clawing back a 23-10 half-time deficit with four unanswered second-half tries that left Trelawny’s Army shell-shocked.
Early opportunities to take the upper hand in the scrum were lost to a strong Cornish pack, and the first penalty went to Cornwall, though Kieron Lewis was unable to slot home the early 40-metre attempt.
Chris Johnson was able to take advantage of a simple penalty goal kick soon afterwards to start the ball rolling.
Lewitt equalised after quarter of an hour, at a time when the Cornish forwards were in the ascendancy.
Lancashire’s answer to this pressure came from the fine kicking of captain Johnson, who wisely chose to kick to touch for his next penalty.
That led to the first try of the match, with Mark Rylance on the end of a great line-out move. Louis McGowan collected the throw, feeding Gareth Rawlings, who attacked the blindside to pass to Rylance who was in good space to touch down.
Johnson converted, but Lewitt pulled a penalty score back before Lewis Vinnicombe took advantage of his own chip and chase to touch down in the right corner. Television replays would show that he had gone in to touch beforehand but the score stood. With Lewitt’s conversion, Cornwall were in the lead by 13-10.
Ill-discipline led to Lancashire being down to 14 men for ten minutes leading to half-time, with Paul Arnold guilty of a misdemeanour.
That led to Cornwall scoring ten points, with Lewitt kicking the resultant penalty, while Jamal Ford-Robinson scored a wonderful try, powering his way through the defensive line and the last man unable to stop his charge.
With Lewitt’s conversion, Cornwall led 23-10 at the break, so it was back to the changing room for some inspiration for the Lancastrians.
Lewitt kicked another penalty on 48 minutes for a 16-point advantage, but Lancashire came back. Evan Stewart scored from close range for a score awarded after the referee consulted with his assistant, and Johnson converted.
The full-back missed his second penalty kick of the day before Johnson went over with little over twenty minutes to play. He took the final pass from Arnold, who redeemed himself after his earlier indiscretion.
With Lancashire now winning the midfield battle, they were able to play their offloading game, and working well at keeping the ball in play.
Matt Lamprey’s try saw Lancashire regain the lead with just under twenty minutes to play, after accepting David Fairbrother’s pass, for Johnson to convert.
The game was still too close to call, though Lancashire were powering forward, and it was Tom Burtonwood who finished the try-scoring in the final ten minutes. Johnson’s conversion gave Lancashire their final score of 26-36.
Fairbrother’s sin-binning with three minutes to play couldn’t take the gloss off the occasion, and it was left to Johnson to kick the ball to touch at the final whistle.
Mark Nelson’s powers of persuasion were put to the test at half-time as he explained: “I took them into the changing room at half-time, and we refocused on the game-plan that we set out to do, and said we weren’t delivering,” he said.
“I’ve got to give credit to Cornwall, competing at the breakdown, contesting at the tackle area, and at scrum time. We just looked at each other and I said ‘You’ve got forty minutes to impose our game on the opposition’.
“I think that we made too many basic errors, we botched kick-offs badly, and didn’t really get out of second gear.
“We showed a glimpse right at the end of the first half, and that showed there was a door open for us.
“Our forwards absorbed and contested a really brutal first half against a very strong Cornish pack, and that paid dividends. Across the board, it’s an 80-minute game, and we came strong in the last 20, which is what I hoped would happen.
“We used the rolling subs very effectively. We brought a squad of 22 and two travelling reserves who are more than capable of starting or finishing the game, and I know that I can put them players on at any given time, and that they’ll do their job, and they’ll make a difference, and that was the case.
“When Paul Arnold went off, that tested our resolve, and Cornwall got a couple of scores in that period. But those things happen in a game, and you’ve just got to plan for them. That is when team spirit and team belief come in to play, and we have got that in abundance”.
Chris Johnson added: “We were playing rugby that we hadn’t played all championship; we weren’t getting round the corner, we weren’t working hard enough. Cornwall were pressing as well, but something just clicked.
“Cornwall started better than us, they were more energetic, they were tackling better than us, they were carrying better than us, and putting a lot of pressure on us.
“Tactically, Nelly got it right, in the subs that he made.
“The forwards were immense in the last quarter, they got us over the gain line, and if they do that on a big open pitch like that, then there is going to be space somewhere, and we managed to be clinical.
“Every time we went up there, we scored, which was brilliant.
“That’s the best campaign, it’s the best squad that we’ve had. In the past we have had some great squads, but for players like Gaz Rawlings, Arnie, Briersy and Spraggy, mixed in with some young lads, I think that’s the best squad.
“To go unbeaten in the whole campaign and score a lot of tries in the process, really enjoying ourselves, that’s the best one for me".
He reflected on the comebacks against Yorkshire and Cheshire as well: “We had been down in both games, and still came away with the win, so we knew that with the quality of this team that we could get close to it. We surpassed that, and it was a very good win in the end.
Tom Burtonwood, scorer of Lancashire’s final try said afterwards: “To come on at Twickenham in my first year with Lancashire was great, but to score as well, well you just dream about that”.
Teams –
Lancashire
15 Sean Taylor (Preston Grasshoppers) 14 Warren Spragg (Fylde) 13 Chris Briers (Fylde) 12 Matt Riley (Sedgley Park) 11 Oli Brennand (Fylde) 10 Chris Johnson (Captain) (Fylde) 9 Ryan De la HArpe (Fylde); 1 Adam Lewis (Fylde) 2 Mark Rylance (Fylde) 3 Ben Black (Sedgley Park) 4 Louis McGowan (Sedgley Park) 5 Gareth Gore (Fylde) 6 Gareth Rawlings (Longton) 7 Evan Stewart (Fylde) 8 Matt Lamprey (Sedgley Park)
Replacements – 16 Simon Griffiths (Fylde) 17 Peter Altham (Preston Grasshoppers) 18 David Fairbrother (Fleetwood) 19 Paul Arnold (Fylde) 20 Tom Burtonwood (Fylde) 21 Phil Baines (Preston Grasshoppers) 22 Steve Collins (Sedgley Park)
Cornwall
15 Kieron Lewitt (Cornish All Blacks) 14 Lewis Vinnicombe (Truro) 13 Ryan Westren (Cornish All Blacks) 12 Nielson Webber (Cornish All Blacks) 11 Tom Notman (Redruth) 10 Lewis Webb (Cornish All Blacks) 9 Greg Goodfellow (Redruth); 1 Darren Jacques (Truro) 2 Jamie Salter (Cornish All Blacks) 3 Craig Williams (Redruth) 4 Damien Cook (Redruth) 5 Ben Hilton (Captain) (Cornish All Blacks) 6 Chris Fuca (Redruth) 7 Tom Rawlings (Cornish All Blacks) 8 Barrie John Chapman (Cornish All Blacks)
Replacements – 16 Richard Brown (Redruth) 17 Jamal Ford-Robinson (Cambridge) 18 Bryn Jenkins (Cornish All Blacks) 19 Tony Whittle (Falmouth) 22 Steve Johns (Birmingham Solihull Bees) 23 Sam Parsons (Redruth) 24 Matt Shepherd (St Austell)
Scorers –
Lancashire
Tries: Rylance 17, Stewart 53, Johnson 58, Lamprey 62, Burtonwood 72
Conversions: Johnson 17 53 62 72
Penalty Goals: Johnson 11
Cornwall
Tries: Vinnicombe 24, Ford-Robinson 35
Conversions: Lewitt 24 35
Penalty Goals: Lewitt 15 22 32 48