Cornwall U20s 22 Gloucestershire U20s 37

CORNWALL Under-20s coach Tom Rawlings was proud of his players, despite defeat in their opening National Under-20 Championship South West Group B match at Camborne on Sunday.

Gloucestershire won the national final at Twickenham last season and have consistently been one of the top county under-20 teams for many years.

However, they were given a big fright by the side coached by Rawlings and Steve Kenward.

It was nip and tuck, with the lead changing hands six times, until two tries in the space of only a few minutes in the second half killed the Duchy off.

"I am really proud of the guys," said Rawlings. "From one to 22 they were outstanding and they can all feel proud of their performance.

"Plenty of times in the past, Cornwall teams have played Gloucestershire and been thrashed, but we could and should have won the game."

The key difference between the two sides was at scrum time, with the huge Gloucestershire pack just proving too strong for their Cornish counterparts. It provided two pushover tries and a penalty try for the visitors.

"The Gloucestershire players were massive," said Rawlings. "Some of them would not have looked out of place in an Exeter Chiefs shirt, such was their size. It was like scrummaging against nine or ten players, rather than eight.

"They came out and threw everything at us in the opening ten minutes or so, but we absorbed it and then scored, and that gave us a lot of confidence."

The display gave Rawlings plenty of encouragement for the trip to Wellington RFC to face Somerset on Sunday week, before Cornwall conclude their pool matches with a home clash against Devon.

Gloucestershire led 6-0, thanks to two penalties from full back Sam Baker, before fly half and man-of-the-match Kyle Moyle scored a try for Cornwall after good work by his Cornish All Blacks team-mate Aron Struminski, and Moyle converted before adding a penalty for a 10-6 advantage.

Gloucestershire got themselves back in front with a try by lock Ben West from a quick tap penalty to lead 11-10 at the interval, but Cornwall hit them with a touchdown early in the second half when flanker Jordan Rose and centre Liam Yeo linked to send in Struminski.

The visitors recaptured the advantage again with a pushover try from replacement back row Harris Casson, with Baker adding the extras.

But Cornwall responded in splendid fashion when Moyle's break set up a good position for skipper Malcolm Hearn to dive over from a ruck, and Moyle's conversion put the Duchy 22-18 ahead.

However, Gloucestershire's forwards then started to take control, with flanker Harry Horne dotting down a pushover try, followed nine minutes later by a penalty try, which Baker improved for a 30-22 advantage.

The match was then held up for 15 to 20 minutes while an ambulance was called for Gloucestershire prop James Litchfield, who had broken his ankle, and eventually the decision was taken to play the remaining ten minutes on Camborne's second-team pitch.

Gloucestershire wasted little time in claiming a fifth try, through centre Taylor Stevens, and replacement Jack O'Connell converted to complete the scoring.