Cornwall Rugby Football Union (CRFU) Under 20 County Championship campaign 2020 gets under way, this Sunday 26th January, with their first fixture in the Jason Leonard Cup. The team travel to neighbours Devon for their first pool game of the competition. The game will be played at Ivybridge RFC.

CRFU President John Sumnall said “It is great to get this year’s campaign off with a local tie against our neighbours Devon. We thank all our sponsors for their support and assistance with this group of players in this important game representing Cornwall. It is fantastic to see so many different clubs represented, and we thank them for their support to enable these fixtures to be played”

The game kicks off at 14:00 at Ivybridge and will be played on the all-weather pitch.

Coach Rich Kevern said. “This will be a good test for this new set of young players and the experienced guys remaining from last season. Although we have had two warm up games we are in a different ball game now that the Championship is underway. We had a tight game against Devon last season at St Austell and we know the guys in green and white will be up for a tough game again this season”

Cornwall has a new forwards coach this season with ex Cornwall U20, Championship and Premiership player Tyler Gendall who joins Rich Kevern. Rich’s brother Adam has also been assisting especially during his recovery from injury.

Cornwall Captain this season is Aaron Simmonds he said. “It is an honour to be asked to captain the side for this season. I know the guys are up for a tough campaign as always and have trained well in preparation for this game. This is my second season with the 20’s and I know that it is a tough competition and we will have to perform at our best in every game.”

Cornwall‘s second pool game will be home to Berkshire at Camborne RFC with a 13:30 kick off on Sunday February 23. The final pool game will be hosted by Dings RFC in Bristol on Sunday 15 March where the opponents will be Gloucestershire.

The CRFU Representative Rugby Chair Chris Lea said. “The vagaries of U20 rugby mean we can lose up to 50% of our squad every year through age qualification. This year we have lost even more and so we start to build again with a mixture of players transitioning from the U18’s, new players identified and nominated from clubs around the county. There are a number of these guys who will be around for the next 2 seasons and we are always on the lookout at new talent who can come into the squad and join them over the coming seasons.”

Cornwall Squad v Devon

Coaches – Rich Kevern + Tyler Gendall, assisted by Adam Kevern

Medical cover – Neville Curnow + Graham Ashton

Kit – Paul Hurrell, Colin Hatch

JASON LEONARD CUP (Pool Fixtures)

Sunday 26th January 2020   DEVON V CORNWALL @ Ivybridge RFC kick-off 2 pm

Sunday 23rd February 2020 CORNWALL V BERKSHIRE @ Camborne RFC 1:30 pm

Sunday 15th March 2020 GLOUCESTERSHIRE V CORNWALL @ Dings Crusaders 2:30 pm.

Cornwall’s youngest stars ran out for their final friendly, before taking on Devon on January the 26th in the Jason Leonard Cup. This bruising and physical affair proved to be a rewarding one, as Cornwall came off 32 – 22 winners, reports Elliot Trotman at Hayle RFC

Cornwall found themselves on Fire’s five-metre line early on through poor hands. The ’20s showed patience and were rewarded as hooker James Lambourn muscled his way over for the opening score, with captain Aaron Simmonds adding the extras.

This was certainly a wake-up call for the Fire Service who levelled the scores instantly from a pick and go from the back of a scrum.

Soon after Cornwall found themselves with a penalty in front of the sticks from a hand in the ruck penalty, this was converted by Simmonds to take the score to 10 – 7.

Cornwall’s defence was tested throughout the game, but first-up tackles were consistent and the Fire Service found this difficult to break down. As a result, Fire’s fly-half took a shot at a drop goal which leveled the scores. 

The ‘20s drew last blood right before the half, as the second row Mawgan Osborne went over to make the score 15-10 at the break.

The beginning of the second half saw a very different Fire Service, a Fire service that was quick and alert. Handling errors from the ‘20s led to the Fire going under the posts, resulting in the ‘20s going behind for the first time in the match.

From poor hands to quick hands, the ‘20s bounced back as Fraser Nottle beat his man on the outside to score in the corner putting Cornwall back in front. Simmons delivered the extras to make the score 22 – 17.

Tom Spiers made an instant impact off the bench, scoring from a pick and go giving Cornwall a two-score lead. Simmonds once again adding the two points. 

The Fire Service found themselves dead and buried when a clumsy penalty led to a Simmonds’ three points and a big gap to chase with little time remaining. However, they didn’t go down without a fight and  were rewarded for their efforts with another try, but it proved too little too late.

The referee’s final whistle saw Cornwall worthy winners 32 – 22 .

Speaking after the game skipper Aaron Simmonds said. “We learnt a lot. We didn’t target the win, we wanted a performance, we showed that tonight!

Looking towards the Devon game Simmonds was enthusiastic following his teams’ win.

“The boys are positive after tonight’s game, we can certainly take what we learnt from this performance and use it against Devon. There’s still lots to work on, but with training on Sunday we will certainly have momentum going into next weeks’ game.”

The ‘20s game v Devon will be played at Ivybridge on the 26th of January with a 1400 kick off time. It will certainly be a must-watch game.