CORNWALL will need to bounce back quickly from their 31-17 defeat by Devon if they are to keep alive their hopes of reaching the Bill Beaumont Cup final at Twickenham.

The Duchy face a long trek on Saturday to play Hertford at Hertfordshire (3.00pm) in a match that looks very winnable on paper.

Cornwall draw many of their players from clubs playing at a higher level than the Hertfordshire squad, but they have suffered shock defeats on their last two visits to Highfields.

In 2008, they lost 31-26 in a County Shield clash, and two years before they went down 31-27 in a County Championship match. Hertfordshire seem to thrive on being the underdogs on their own patch and are proving to be a real bogey team for Cornwall.

But they did not get their campaign off to the best of starts at the weekend, going down 26-3 to Gloucestershire at Lydney, and victory on Saturday will be just as crucial for them as it is for the men in Black and Gold.

Cornwall head coach Dave 'Benji' Thomas was pleased with many aspects of Saturday's disappointing defeat to Devon at Camborne, but he felt his side were outdone by a very impressive pack of forwards.

"I hope we will not meet such a physical pack against Hertfordshire, but our first-time tackling has got to be much more effective," he said.

"When you are playing against a big pack like that, you need to bring the opposition's strike runners down immediately and not pull them down.

"They were getting across the gain line pretty well every time, and once they do that you have got a problem, because they are bringing the rest of the team in behind them. We scrummaged well on Saturday, we won our own line-out ball, but we were up against a much more physical side – a lot of whom have been playing Championship rugby all season, certainly a level above what the majority of the Cornish boys have been playing, and maybe that was the telling factor."

Cornwall backs coach, and newly-appointed Cornish All Blacks joint head coach, Mal Roberts said: "Hopefully we can win at Hertfordshire on Saturday, and then beat Gloucestershire at home, and hope that Devon slip up against someone, so that we can get to Twickenham, but we will have to see."

Cornwall are set to stick largely with the same squad that faced Devon, with Redruth winger Nick Simmons – who really impressed as a late replacement for torn hamstring victim Sean Hawkey – likely to retain his place.

Cornwall squad: Winnan (Redruth), R Thirlby (Moseley), Westren (Cornish All Blacks), Nonu (Camborne), Simmons (Redruth), Matavesi (Exeter Chiefs), Richards (capt), Jacques, Hambly, Joyce (all Redruth), Hilton, Jenkins, S Hocking, T Rawlings (all All Blacks), M Bright (Redruth), Salter (All Blacks), Morcom (Newquay H), Cook (Redruth), M Rawlings, Webb (all All Blacks), Bonds (Redruth), Murphy (All Blacks).

Hertfordshire squad: Newton (Tring); Smart (Hertford), Lambden (Loughborough Students), Ellis (Hertford), Crompton (Stevenage Tn); Gregg (Old Albanians), Evans; Gelman (both Old Albanians), Cross, Schillaci, Johnson (all Hertford), Quarmby (Stevenage), Hardcastle (Hertford), Temperley (Luton), Archer (Cambridge, capt), Remfrey (Caldy), Hughes (Old Albanians), Amos (Stevenage), Cooper-Miller, Thompson (both Esher), Watt (Datchworth), Isaac (Hertford), Buckingham (Hemel Hempstead).