CORNWALL skipper Ben Hilton believes his side face a "massive test" when they open their Bill Beaumont Cup campaign with a match against Gloucestershire at Cinderford on Saturday (3pm).
Gloucestershire had not named their squad at the time of going to press, and will be missing several players as a number of their feeder clubs have re-arranged league games to play this weekend.
But crucially, Cinderford have called off their home National League One match with Old Albanians, which means their players will be available for the county side, making Gloucestershire a very tough proposition, with the vast majority of the Cornwall squad drawn from National Two South clubs Redruth and Cornish All Blacks.
Cornwall won 17-0 against Devon at Brickfields in their recent Tamar Cup clash, but made heavy weather of it against much weaker opponents.
However, Hilton believes that not too much should be read into that performance as there were plenty of disruptions to the Duchy squad that evening.
"The worry is we aren't as prepared as last year, and that's not due to a lack of organisation, but the pure logistics of trying to get everyone together," said Hilton, who is a teacher at St Petroc's School in Bude.
"I think we will give a good account of ourselves, but we are very aware of how difficult this year is, playing Gloucestershire and Kent away, and reigning champions Hertfordshire at home. There are no banker wins in there."
If Cornwall can get their campaign off to a winning start though, it will give them a nice boost before the long trip to Rochester to face Kent the following weekend.
Cornwall have made seven changes from the side that beat Devon in the Tamar Cup. Jake Murphy takes over from Joe Parma at full back, while Coventry's Steve Johns comes in for Lewis Paterson at centre.
There is also a new half-back pairing of Redruth duo Paul Thirlby and Greg Goodfellow, who replace Matt Shepherd and Steve Perry.
In the pack, Redruth loose-head prop Darren Jacques has recovered from an ankle injury to take over from Tamar Cup man of the match Martin Rice, who is on the bench.
There are also two changes in the back row, with All Blacks skipper Tom Rawlings at openside flanker, providing he has recovered from a knee injury picked up in a league game against Worthing recently, and Plymouth Albion's Sam Hocking at No.8, with James Goldsworthy and Josh Lord making way.
