Being in final is the pinnacle of community game – coach
Preview Division 1 Final
Yorkshire v Kent Saturday, June 15. 3pm
KENT will be looking to secure back-toback Bill Beaumont County Championship titles on Saturday but standing in their way is a Yorkshire side that will be hoping to secure a men's and women's double.
The last time Kent appeared in back-to-back division 1 finals was way back in 1904 and Taff Gwilliam's current crop will be well rested for their showdown at Twickenham after their opponents last weekend Surrey forfeited their fixture.
Having secured their first county triumph since 1927 by beating Lancashire 39-37 in last season's final, Kent have returned to HQ following tense, narrow victories over Hampshire (32-30) and Cornwall (34-33).
Head coach Gwilliam, right, who is also director of rugby at National Two East team Canterbury, says his side Kent's recent success is down to the thriving community game in the county.
G w i l – liam told The Rugby Paper: “Although we beat Hampshire narrowly away, the key game was against Cornwall at home. To beat them with a single point after losing our captain to a red card was significant for us as it showed real character.
“It's been a massive team effort. We've got a good young group that's come together. Most have toured together because we sent a development tour abroad last year to South Africa. It would be wrong of me to single players out because lots of individuals have had highlights in the games but really it's all about the team.
“Community rugby in Kent is really strong. A lot of these lads that have come through have been from our U20 programme, moving into the seniors. It shows the work our volunteers do to develop our players within Kent. It's the pinnacle of community rugby to make it to a county final and they are all super excited.”
Kent's squad mainly derives from National League sides Canterbury, Westcombe Park, Tonbridge Juddians, Blackheath and one player each from Dork-ing and Sevenoaks. Gwilliam is ex pecting a tough match against Yorkshire, who return to the showpiece event for the first time since 2018. He added: “Yorkshire are a strong side, I've been told they are a powerful team and no more than what we expect from a finalist.
They beat last year's finalists Lan cashire to get here, so we know we're in for a tough game.” Yorkshire head coach Pete Taylor, right, is in his third season of coach ing the men's team after winning his first cap as a player in 1994 at Twick enham in the victorious Division 1 final against Durham. It's been 16 years since the last time Yorkshire won the County Cham pionship but with the women's team playing their final just two hours before, Taylor says it's an exciting time for York shire rugby.
He told The Rugby Pa per: “To have the York shire men and women playing back-to-back makes it even more exciting for everyone involved. “Yorkshire is such a big county in terms of clubs play ing in the National Leagues.
We pick from nearly every club, there's 10 clubs represented throughout the programme. Playing at Hull Ionians' ground last weekend, we had nine lads from either Hull or Hull Ionians. We always pick di versely and go across the whole county to re ward players across the leagues, as we'll have a couple from lev el 5.”
Due to there being just three teams in pool 1, Yorkshire only managed to play two games in the build-up to Saturday's final as well with a 33-31 victory away at Somerset followed by a 26-13 triumph at home to northern foes Lancashire last weekend, which was sweet revenge after coming up short in their meeting last year.
Taylor added: “It's quite a challenge to prepare well but it's okay as long as you get your head around how you've only got two games, which equates to roughly four training sessions. 95 per cent of the squad trained all four sessions ahead of both games and we felt that was about as good preparation as we could have hoped for, so we're really pleased with that.
“We tend to play Lancashire every year, certainly have the last three. In 2022 we beat them in the last kick of the game but we didn't reach the final as Cheshire had a better points difference.
“Last year we lost by a point and then this year we knew it would be a really tense, close, exciting game. The scoreline didn't reflect the game as we had a sin-bin but scored twice when we went down to 14 men.
“It was 26-13 but we scored four tries to one which I'd never have hoped for against a side that like to throw the ball about.”
