CORNWALL head coach Graham Dawe feels ‘defence will be key’ as the Black and Gold look to reach the Bill Beaumont County Championship Division One final at holders Kent tomorrow (2pm).

The Duchy make the long trip east with a huge 73-14 advantage following a first leg where the three-time, back-to-back winners were without a host of players due to Blackheath’s play-off final victory over London Scottish, which secured promotion to Champ Rugby.

Cornwall, who are aiming for a first final since 2022, were mightily impressive for their 11 tries, nine of which were converted by full-back Kyle Moyle.

Reflecting on last weekend, Dawe said: “We got off to a great start and kept the pressure going with all 23 players contributing to the end result.

“We were quite pragmatic and used our power game in the first 15 minutes and didn’t really go away from that in the first half, which put some doubt in their minds.

“It meant they were always playing catch-up, and although to be fair to them they managed a couple of tries, we were able to keep building up the lead.”

Dawe also reserved praise for young fly-half Dean Wills and experienced trio Shaun Buzza, skipper Sam Matavesi and man-of-the-match Herbie Stupple.

He said: “It’s hard to single anybody out after a game like that, but I thought Dean did really well in what’s a very experienced squad, and the back-row were immense throughout in what was a near complete team performance.”

Unsurprisingly, Cornwall name 12 of the same starting XV, although there are changes.

Dawe continued: “We’ve got three Navy boys unavailable this week in props Kye Beasley and Ben Watson and lock Edd Pascoe, but we’ve got some really good props coming into the team in Archie Rolls and Sam Rodman with Dec Prowse and Jack Andrew onto the bench. Jago Sheppard will start in the second row.

“There are still improvements we can make including being cleaner in the tackle and ruck area, and we may have to use our kicking game a bit more, but we’ll see how the game goes in those first 10 minutes.

“As always, the defence will be key for us. Last weekend we kept them out for nearly an hour, and if we can do that again that’d be brilliant.”

Kent’s home ground of Charlton Park in South East London is a 600-plus mile round trip, however you can be assured there’ll be plenty of Cornish supporters inside the ground.

Dawe concluded: “It’s obviously the biggest game of the season so far with what’s at stake, and we’re usually very well supported, so hopefully there’ll be plenty of Cornish people up there tomorrow and we get the job done.

“The players also are really looking forward to it. They play for Cornwall for pure enjoyment and have really got behind Sam as they love playing under him which is really important.”

CORNWALL (Camborne unless stated): Kyle Moyle; Matt Shepherd (St Austell), Max Bodilly (London Welsh), Josh Matavesi, Alex Ducker; Dean Wills (Redruth), CJ Boyce; Archie Rolls, Tom Cowan-Dickie, Jack Andrew; Mawgan Osborne (Redruth), Jago Sheppard; Shaun Buzza, Sam Matavesi (captain), Herbie Stupple. Replacements: Ben Priddey, Declan Prowse (Penzance & Newlyn), Pat Walton (Barnes), Jack Andrew, Ben Hancock (Launceston), Jordan Nicholls, Will Hennessy, Harry Larkins.