Dorset and Wilts' county rugby team enjoyed a triumphant trip to the game's headquarters at Twickenham on Sunday, beating Surrey by 43 points to 22 in the final of the County Championship Shield. This was their second successful visit to HQ in two years.

The Twin Counties earmed their place in the final by winning both their pool games, a tough game away to Berkshire and a convincing home win over Oxfordshire. This was followed by a rout of Essex in the semi-final at Bournemouth. Surrey's semi-final was a tough away match against Cumbria at Aspatria, which they won narrowly in poor weather.

The 43-22 scoreline, and try count of six to one in Counties' favour, makes it sound quite convincing but Counties didn't have it all their own way. They started slowly, while Surrey looked extremely sharp with swift recyling of the ball and excellent support play. Surrey's starting XV included nine players from the same club, Dorking, which may have helped their patterns of play. Surrey opened the scoring with a penalty after only two minutes from fly-half Matt Noble. This was followed at the ten minute mark with a try from scrum-half Steve Munford, converted by Noble to give Surrey a 10-0 lead. This woke Counties up. A scorching long break down the right wing from Salisbury's Tom Pottage nearly resulted in a score, but he was hauled down a couple of metres short of the try line. This set up a good attacking position and several phases later hooker Frazer Wilford (Bournemouth) drove over for a try, converted by captain Adam Westall (Swindon). A further converted try from Westall put Counties 14-10 ahead after 25 minutes. Two penalties for Surrey and one for Counties left the half-time score 17-16 in Counties' favour. Ten minutes into the second half Surrey regained the lead with a penalty. Counties replied with a try from replacement Lewis Warner (Wimborne), converted by Westall, followed by a Surrey penalty from Noble, but from then onwards it was virtually one-way traffic. Two tries from young replacement Tom Baldwin (Chippenham) and one from centre Scott Chislett (Bournemouth) with all but the last converted by Westall left the final score 43-22 to Counties.

Once again Salisbury were well represented, with winger Tom Pottage, second row Liam Gilbert and flanker Sean Barwick in the starting line-up and Luke Esnouf, Terry Gilmour and Dave Thorpe coming off the bench. Our players didn't score this time but made full contributions to the win. Pottage sniped along the wing and one of his breaks set up the first try. Liam Gilbert carried his club form to HQ, securing lineout possession including least once on Surrey's throw-in, and wreaking havoc with bullocking runs in the loose. Sean Barwick had retired in the semi-final with a damaged hamstring and according to physio Ian Landon his participation was in doubt right up to the last minute. He was passed fit and made his mark by tackling all over the field, as usual, only to come off late in the game with a shoulder injury.

Head coach Si Culley commented to the BBC that he was especially proud of his players' efforts to retain the championship: "This year means a lot more, it's so much harder to defend the title than to win it the first time".

John Palmer