Northumberland at strength for Twickenham showdown
May
Northumberland go into their County Championship Shield final against Cornwall at Twickenham on Sunday (June 1, 10am) will an injury free squad to select from and a very positive mood in the camp.
Like their South West rivals, the men from the North East have already guaranteed themselves a place in the top flight and the Bill Beaumont Cup next season having won all their group games and with promoted Tynedale supplying the lion’s share of the squad, morale could scarcely be higher.
The selectors welcome back-row pair Andrew Murray (Tynedale) and Jason Smithson (Blaydon) into the squad after missing the North Midlands game, the only doubt being the availability of Tynedale centre Ben Duncan. He is scheduled to be going on a zoological field trip on Sunday morning and still needs clearance to join his group a day later.
“There’s quite a bit of enthusiasm and support for the team in the county, but obviously a 10am kick-off does not help in terms of getting people to Twickenham,” says Team Manager Willie Allen: “But I expect we’ll still have a few people there to cheer the lads on.”
Like his Cornish Counterpart ‘Benji’ Thomas, Northumberland coach Tom Borthwick is looking at a job half done, but with a major part of the challenge safely tucked away.
“Our main aim was always to get back into Division One of the championship. The calibre of players we have now is quite capable of competing at that level and we’ve managed that.” he says: “That was half of the task and now we want to see if we can bring the trophy home to finish the job.
“The first challenge now that we have a full complement of players for the first time is to decide on the right balance of the team and the best combination to put on the bench. There are one or two areas that need some thought and the right bench options could be crucial to the cause.
“Looking at the Cornish team that played in their last game, they’re quite strong on paper. They comprise mostly players from Launceston, Mount’s Bay and Redruth, which is a similar level to ours.
“The key is for us to prepare properly for the game. The early kick-off makes it a bit more difficult to prepare for, but we’re trying to prepare as professionally as we can. We’ll be travelling down on Friday and having a session at London Scottish on Saturday morning at 10am to give the lads a feeling of what it will be like on match day.”
Cornwall will be in their first County Championship final since 2001, but coach Thomas echoes Borthwick’s view: “The most important thing for us was to get back into the top tier of this competition and we have done that. Most Cornish people think this is where we should be and also expect us to be here so we are just glad that we have achieved that this season. For us, Sunday is an extra treat for the players.”
“This is a nice end to the season for us. The players are delighted and really looking forward to it even though their normal season has been extended by another five weeks.”
Cornwall will stick with the same starting line-up that defeated Eastern Counties just over a week ago.
