Cornwall Women secure historic Twickenham victory

Cornwall‘s women had never played at Twickenham before [Simon Bryant/Cornwall RFU]Cornwall Women beat Durham 46-27 to win their first-ever match at Twickenham.

>The Duchy - who led 34-12 early in the second half - held off a late Durham fightback as they outscored their opponents by eight tries to five.

>The victory in the final of Division Two of the County Championship ensured promotion to the top flight for 2027.

>The win came four years after Cornwall won the third tier of the Gill Burns Cup competition and two years after Durham beat them in their last semi-final appearance.

>"That was an absolutely incredible game," head coach Jo Holden told BBC Radio Cornwall.

>"I think anyone that came to watch that game got a very good game of rugby.

>"It's always fantastic to win it, but to actually put on a performance like that so people watching understand that women's game is that good, is more important to me than anything.

>"But the fact that we've we've come away with a win is incredible."

Cornwall Women hope Twickenham final can leave legacy • >Cornwall Women book first Twickenham finalCatherine Barrett's sixth-minute try gave Durham the lead, but it was soon cancelled out by Hannah Mills, only for skipper Jess Clabby to restore Durham's advantage as she went over after 15 minutes to make it 12-5.

>But Cornwall upped the pressure as the impressive Michaella Roberts was mauled over from a five-metre line-out, before tighthead prop Kim Upcott forced her way in under the posts after 30 minutes to make it 17-12 to the Duchy.

>Two minutes later Roberts scored her second try in impressive style as she picked up the ball 10 metres inside her own half, broke through the Durham line and raced in as Cornwall led 24-12 at half-time.

>Jessie Humber finished off a good intricate passing move as she dived over in the right corner for Cornwall's fifth try six minutes after the restart.

>Moments later Durham replacement Molly Dutchburn was sin-binned for a ruck infringement and after five minutes with an extra player Abby Masquelier went over to make it 34-12.

>Having gone back up to 15 players Durham were given an advantage when Roberts was yellow-carded for a ruck infringement of her own.

>Durham took their chance as Holly Mountain and Daisy Graham scored tries to cut the gap to 34-22 with 13 minutes to go.

>Maggie Graham powered through the Cornwall defence with eight minutes to go to reduce the deficit to seven points with seven minutes left.

>But Faith Rowe's try under the posts from close range with three minutes to go allayed any Cornish fears of a defeat before Masquelier skipped over in stoppage time to put the gloss on the win.

>"When we lost Michaella to a yellow card, which I think if I'm honest was a bit harsh, I think they gave away quite a lot of penalties in the first half and weren't penalised for it, I think the fact that Cornwall kept their heads, they kept going, they knew they had a job to do," added Holden.

>"That first kind of five minutes was get that Twickenham legs out of them and obviously they scored.

>"But we talked about it before we've gone behind and we've come back because Cornish granite does that.

>"The support here today as well was absolutely incredible, the fact that we got to run out to a crowd of cheering people was phenomenal and I can only thank every single one of you for coming and giving these women everything that they deserve."

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