Hertfordshire finally met their match on Saturday at Twickenham when a strong Cheshire side won the RFU County Championship Shield by 30 points to 22. It was no walkover however, as Hertfordshire started strongly and raced to a 15 point lead in the first 20 minutes. But by the end of the first half the tide had started to turn and the second half was dominated by Cheshire, despite a late score from Herts.

It was almost a relief to start at 10.00 am on a hot sunny day as Herts kicked off in front of a small but vociferous crowd. The confidence from their previous victories was evident and in the opening minute they won a penalty and set up a line out 5 metres from the Cheshire line. The ball was won and the drive put Chris Rainbow (Hertford) over the line for the first score. Richard Gregg (Old Albanian) added the conversion and Herts were off to a great start. They continued to dominate the early proceedings with Tom Newton (Tring) and Luke Sloan (Southend) making penetrative runs as Herts ran their possession. After 12 minutes they scored a second try when, running the ball from a scrum 30 metres out, Newton timed his entry into the line to perfection and he was able to sprint over for the try.

From the restart Herts were penalised 25 metres out but the Cheshire kick went wide. The first signs that Herts were not having their own way appeared in the line out where it was a struggle for clean possession. The battle in the loose became more even, but Herts continued to press and the first quarter ended with Herts increasing their lead through Gregg penalty from 30 metres after Cheshire had killed the ball.

Cheshire now began to play more confidently and it wasn't long before their centre Patrick Leach (Manchester) made a break on half way and chipped ahead for Herts to concede a 5 metre scrum. Herts managed to disrupt the put in, but the pressure was maintained and it was only excellent defence that weathered the storm. Gregg broke the seige with a nice break and the ball was taken on by Ian Crompton (Stevenage Town), before we was tackled into touch. Then just on the stroke of half time Cheshire were thwarted by an excellent cover tackle by Nico Burger (Old Ashmolean) and Herts had maintained their 15 point lead.

Herts started the second half in attacking mood and earned a long range penalty, but the kick went wide. Then Cheshire put their first points on the board via a penalty from replacement Gavin Roberts (Caldy). This appeared to galvanise Cheshire and they began to recycle the ball well. After 12 minutes play, they ran good scrum ball and Nick Pearson (Sheffield Tigers) powered over. Minutes later Cheshire equalised the scored when forward pressure on the Herts line resulted in Tom Mantell (Macclesfield) being driven over for a try, converted by Roberts.

Cheshire now had the momentum and two more scores came quickly. Firstly Roberts kicked a penalty when Herts were offside in front of their posts and then Ben Coulbeck (Manchester) squeezed over for a try to take the score to 23 -15. With less then 20 minutes left Herts tried to use any ball they got, but errors crept in as they tried to rush things and the odd pass went astray. This enable Cheshire to keep control of the game and they took the game out of Hertfordshire's reach when centre Leach split the defence to score a try converted by Roberts.

The last word came from Herts, however, as they didn't give up and forced an attacking scrum from which scrum half Mark Evans broke, chipped ahead and scored. Replacement fly half Tom Coleman (Bishop's Stortford) added the conversion from wide out, but there no time left for further scores and Cheshire comfortably ran down clock

So a very successful Hertfordshire season ended in disappointment, but it was only to a side that had to show character to come back from a 15 point deficit. The Herts players acquitted themselves well and although Cheshire had drawn well ahead the final 8 point margin was a fair reflection on the game.

A short rest for the players after a long season, but not long before they will be called by their Clubs for pre-season training. And, of course, no rest for Chris Rainbow, who flew to Korea with the England Counties squad the day after the match.

Hertfordshire: Tom Newton (Tring); Ian Crompton (Stevenage Town), Stuart Smart (Hertford), Luke Sloan (Southend), Nico Burger (Old Ashmoleans); Richard Gregg (Old Albanian), Mark Evans (Old Albanian); Jon Patton (Hertford), Matt Cross (Hertford), Jim Remfry (Caldy), Rob Anderson (unattached), Adam Amos (Stevenage Town), Paul Gustard (Old Albanian), Chris Rainbow (Hertford), David Archer (Cambridge) (Capt).

Replacements: Giles Wallis (Tring) (Cross 59 min), Adam Gelman (Old Albanian) (Patton 54 min), Alfie Church (Hertford) (Amos 49 min), Ian Hardcastle (Hertford) (Rainbow 49 min), Steve Ellis (Hertford) (Sloan 78 min), Tom Coleman (Bishop's Stortford) (Gregg 78 min), Handre Schmidt (Cambridge) (Burger 45 min).