Cornwall Women hope Twickenham final can leave legacy

Cornwall head coach Jo Holden hopes her side's County Championship trip to Twickenham can leave a legacy for women's rugby in the county.

The Black and Gold will face Durham in the Division Two final of the Gill Burns Cup on Saturday morning after beating North Midlands in Sunday's semi-final.

It is the first time a Cornwall women's team has played at the home of English rugby and the final comes four years after they were promoted to the second tier when they won the third division title.

"I see my role as hopefully pushing women to do better in Cornwall, pushing women to play at a higher level, pushing women to put themselves on the map - if it takes us to do that, I'm more than happy," Holden told BBC Radio Cornwall.

"We've got so many more women's teams in the county now, and I'm very proud of the fact that a lot of the girls in the county have been pushing other women to play rugby, have been pushing other women to be better at rugby, get the levels up and move forward.

"As a coaching team all we ever wanted was for Cornish rugby to be taken seriously, and I hope people are starting to realise there's a women's team, not just a men's team.

"I think the nice thing for me as well is that we have a couple of girls in the squad that did watch the 2022 final, and they are now playing."

Cornwall's women will precede the county's men's side who will play Lancashire for the Bill Beaumont Cup later on Saturday at Twickenham.

It is an unprecedented double bill for the county as they aim to repeat their success of 2022 when the men's side won their last title on the same day as the women.

"It's happened at the same time as it did last time - unfortunately we were down the road at Richmond while they got to play at Twickenham," said Holden.

"But it's weird that we both reached the final at the same time again, but maybe that's meant to be - maybe we are meant to paint London black and gold for the weekend, and let's hope that's the case."

She added: "No matter the result at the weekend, I'm incredibly proud of what they've done.

"I hope they take in every minute of it, I hope they soak it up. I hope we make an experience for them as well - from when we leave on Friday to when we come home on Sunday.

"I hope that the whole experience for all of them is what they dream of because that's all we can do.

"We can try and put something out there that's memorable and we hope that we can put on a show that Cornish people can be proud of."

But Holden knows her side will be up agaisnt it when they face Durham.

The opponents thrashed Cornwall's fierce rivals Devon 53-19 in their semi-final last week and knocked Cornwall out at the semi-final stage in 2024.

"If I'm honest, it's kind of the finish to the story that I wanted because we lost to them in the semi-finals a couple of years ago - they put on a very dominant performance," she said.

"We know they're a very physical team, they always have been. I think hopefully this time we can be a little bit more prepared for that and be ready.

"I always say we play our game, but we have to make sure that we're not giving them opportunities to play their game as much.

"We are up for a battle, but it's kind of the ending I want, because if we can beat different teams all the way through, then I think that's a big achievement for us."