Cornwall Women book first Twickenham final

Cornwall Women secured their first-ever Twickenham final after winning 19-12 at North Midlands in the County Championship semi-final.

The victory means the Black and Gold will contest the Division Two final of the Gill Burns Cup at English rugby headquarters next weekend.

It comes a day after the men's side secured their first County Championship final at Twickenham for four years after a 129-33 aggregate win over champions Kent.

The women's side's victory comes four years after Cornwall secured promotion to the second tier of the County Championship.

They will face either Durham or Devon in the final.

"It's absolutely amazing," head coach Jo Holden told BBC Radio Cornwall.

"These guys are history makers, we've never had a Cornish women's team on Twickenham soil so let's go - and let's go smash it.

"Since we won it [promotion] in 2022 our aim was to get to this point. It's exciting, but we've got a job to do and we'll get ready for Saturday."

Mia Maduagwu's try three minutes from the break put North Midlands 7-0 up at half-time.

But two tries in two minutes from Jessie Humber and Hannah Mills gave Cornwall the lead before Sarah Price pulled one back with 22 minutes left.

But Alex Hutchings ensured Cornwall a trip to London as she crossed for the Duchy's third try nine minutes from the end as the visitors held out under immense pressure from North Midlands.

"It was a great performance," added Holden.

"Cornish granite saw us through. I think the first 20 minutes we kind of played their game and that gave them a bit of an advantage.

"In the second half we just told them to go back to what they know, play their game, but that last 10 minutes of defence was absolutely insane, I don't think you could ask for any more.

"It was a whole squad performance today, whether they got on or didn't get on, I'm over the moon."