This Sunday sees a repeat of last years' County Championship final match, as defending champions Lancashire take on Hertfordshire once more.
The southern side qualified at the expense of a Gloucestershire side who beat them by a two point margin last Saturday, but the bonus points earned over the course of the three match group games earned them their place at Twickenham.
Lancashire meanwhile were made to sweat, as Cheshire took them almost to the wire at Broughton Park. In the end, a 36-29 win saw them through, and they now aim to become the first county since Gloucestershire in the 1960s to win the tournament four years on the trot.
Hertfordshire, coached by Paul Turner, have been bolstered this season by the inclusion of Saracens squad players, including Joel Tomkins, who made the switch from Super League to Premiership in November 2011, after his signing from Wigan Warriors.
Another Saracens player who will be more familiar to the Red rose side is Petrus du Plessis. 'Para' won a Bill Beaumont Cup winners medal in 2009 as a prop in the Lancashire side who swept aside Gloucestershire, before his move to the Vicarage Road club.
Lancashire will be without their squad captain Louis McGowan, who missed the Cheshire game thanks to a ruptured appendix. As well as missing out on Twickenham this weekend, McGowan misses out on the England Counties tour to Africa next month. the lock played for the Counties side earlier this season at Preston against the Irreland Club XV, scoring the opening try of the game.
The game kicks off at 11am on Sunday, as the precursor to England v Barbarians, which is then followed by the County Championship Shield Final, between Surrey and Leicestershire.
The southern side qualified at the expense of a Gloucestershire side who beat them by a two point margin last Saturday, but the bonus points earned over the course of the three match group games earned them their place at Twickenham.
Lancashire meanwhile were made to sweat, as Cheshire took them almost to the wire at Broughton Park. In the end, a 36-29 win saw them through, and they now aim to become the first county since Gloucestershire in the 1960s to win the tournament four years on the trot.
Hertfordshire, coached by Paul Turner, have been bolstered this season by the inclusion of Saracens squad players, including Joel Tomkins, who made the switch from Super League to Premiership in November 2011, after his signing from Wigan Warriors.
Another Saracens player who will be more familiar to the Red rose side is Petrus du Plessis. 'Para' won a Bill Beaumont Cup winners medal in 2009 as a prop in the Lancashire side who swept aside Gloucestershire, before his move to the Vicarage Road club.
Lancashire will be without their squad captain Louis McGowan, who missed the Cheshire game thanks to a ruptured appendix. As well as missing out on Twickenham this weekend, McGowan misses out on the England Counties tour to Africa next month. the lock played for the Counties side earlier this season at Preston against the Irreland Club XV, scoring the opening try of the game.
The game kicks off at 11am on Sunday, as the precursor to England v Barbarians, which is then followed by the County Championship Shield Final, between Surrey and Leicestershire.
RSS Feed