Cornwall relief after late try at Hampshire keeps County Championship hopes alive

Cornwall boss Graham Dawe was relieved after his side's 24-20 win at Hampshire kept their hopes of defending their County Championship title alive.

Ben Priddey's stoppage-time try gave the Black and Gold victory in Havant to set up a winner-takes-all final pool game with fellow unbeaten side Kent.

Liam Perkins' last-minute try seemed to have got Hampshire through before Priddey's late heroics.

"It was a bit of a get out of jail card," Dawe told BBC Radio Cornwall.

"The game never really had any pace to it in the first half and it kept them in the game because they're big physical boys, they're bigger and probably more experienced than us, but we stayed in the fight."

Having beaten Somerset in their opening game, Cornwall are a point behind Kent, who thrashed Somerset 43-7 on Saturday.

The two sides will meet at Camborne, with the winners facing the Division One North pool winners for the Bill Beaumont Cup.

"We've got to adapt to the game that is presented to us, so if it's a slow, methodical set-piece game, like it was in the first half, and we pride ourselves on our fitness, we've got to try and bring their front five into space," added Dawe.

"We've got to put some pressure on them, especially if you're winning on the scoreboard. They are the team that's got to make the effort to break out, we're the team that's got to keep the pressure on and stay clean.

"Our penalty count was high in the second half and ultimately caused a lot of pressure for us."