Cornwall have 'belief and desire' to make County Championship final

Long-serving Cornwall back Matt Shepherd says his side have the belief to reach another Twickenham final.

The Duchy's side host Kent with the winners qualifying for the County Championship final after both sides won their opening two games.

Kent have an extra point after crushing Somerset 43-7 last week while Cornwall edged past Hampshire 24-20 thanks to Ben Priddey's stoppage-time try.

"We've come through some tough tests in the last couple of weeks," he said.

"We're probably not in the space where we want to be at the minute where we're scraping those victories.

"But what we have got is that belief and desire that we're going to come through at the end."

Cornwall are the reigning county champions having beaten Cheshire at Twickenham last year to win the title for the fourth time in the last six tournaments.

Shepherd, 33, has been part of the Cornwall side for a decade and the Black and Gold have reached eight of the nine finals held in that time.

"It'll be nice for the young lads coming through, we've got an extremely young team, just to get that feeling," added Shepherd.

"We've earned it winning two, and Kent winning two, they've earned that right to have this game as a decider to get to Twickenham."