THE Cornish All Blacks Colts snatched victory in the dying minutes of an enthralling and tense County Cup final.

Penzance started very strongly, aided by a strong wind and numerous penalties conceded by the CABs, to the dismay of their vocal travelling support. The Pirates opened the scoring with a converted try. It wasn’t long before they capitalised on a very slow start by the CABs and scored again under the posts to make it 14 unanswered points. Twenty-six minutes into the game the Pirates conceded their first penalty, but the resulting kick did not find touch. However, Luke Couch chased and caught it in the air and the recycled ball eventually found Will Cowan-Dickie who crossed to open the CABs account. The score going into the break was 5 - 14.

The CABs responded well in the second half, Joe Stansfield’s strength taking him over the line to close the gap to just four points. A very strong scrum on the five metre line allowed Piran Gallington to drive over to give the CABs a one point lead, 15-14. Penzance then came back very strongly and regained the lead with a third converted try, 15-21.

The CABs seemed destined to suffer the same fate as last year and narrowly miss out on the trophy. However, they refused to give up and they pressed and pressed, closing on the try line with every phase. Finally Charlie Tummon dragged them over the line to put them within a point, 20-21. Still it seemed they had left it too late, until captain Leoin Cole put in an outstanding driving run, dragging defenders with him. This led to a penalty 15m out to the left of the posts.

Man of the match Will Cowan-Dickie stepped up to convert the kick, but just as it looked as if he had done it, the wind took hold and the ball hit the upright. Kyle Tozer was the quickest to react and secured the ball forcing the Pirates to concede another penalty. This time the kick was more central. Once again Will Cowan-Dickie-Dickie stepped up, his nerves held and he secured the lead 23-21. With just minutes on the clock there was still some defending to be done and the CABs held firm to be crowned Cornwall County Champions.