County championship
Lancashire lift Bill Beaumont Cup once again
ESPN Staff
June 1, 2014
Lancashire's Christopher Johnson makes a break at a sun-drenched Twickenham © Getty Images
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History very nearly repeated itself at Twickenham today as Lancashire defeated Cornwall to defend the Bill Beaumont Cup.

The 36-26 victory was one point more than the scoreline between the same teams in the 2013 final, when Lancashire edged past Cornwall 36-25. The victory sealed a fifth County Championship for Lancashire in six years.

While it will come as little comfort to the West Country side, the scoreline does not do justice to Cornwall's performance for much of the 80 minutes. They went into the half-time break 23-10, crossing the whitewash for tries courtesy of Lewis Vinnicombe and Jamal Ford-Robinson. And despite missing an early penalty, fullback Kieron Lewitt performed well with the boot on a hot afternoon at Twickenham.

Hooker Mark Rylance had put Lancashire in front early in the first half, but life was made difficult for the defending champions when Paul Arnold was sin-binned after half an hour for slapping Cornwall's Tom Rawlings in the face.

But Lancashire came back strongly in the second half, bulldozing over for four unanswered tries from Evan Stewart, Chris Johnson, Matt Lamprey and Tom Burtonwood, with three of the scores coming in the space of ten minutes. It was their determined performance after the half-time break that ensured the trophy returned to Lancashire for another year.

Earlier in the day, Kent defeated Durham to lift the Bill Beaumont Division Two Plate.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd

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