DAVE 'Benji' Thomas wants to end his time as Cornwall's head coach in perfect fashion with victory at Twickenham on Sunday.
The Duchy reached the County Championship final for the first time since 1999 with a superb 41-29 win over defending champions Hertfordshire at Camborne last Saturday to ensure they finished top of the Bill Beaumont Cup Division One South table.
The Duchy face Lancashire in Sunday's final (3.15pm) at English rugby headquarters – a game, the West Briton can reveal, that will bring to an end Thomas's six-season spell leading the county team, after taking over from Joff Rowe in 2007.
It will provide a lovely symmetry to Thomas's reign, as he took Cornwall to Twickenham in 2008, in his first season back in the role he had previously held, when Cornwall lost the second-tier County Shield final 25-11 to Northumberland, but were promoted back to the top flight of county rugby.
This time, though, they will be playing for the big prize which has eluded the Black and Golds since they beat Gloucestershire 25-15 14 years ago.
Thomas, who informed Cornwall RFU chiefs before this season's Championship campaign started that this would be his final year in charge of the team, said: "I am absolutely delighted.
"Instead of finishing my time as head coach with defeat against Hertfordshire at Camborne, I have got a last game bowing out at Twickenham, and I think that is brilliant. I think I have been in my position long enough. I am sure there are other younger men who can come in and do it. I have enjoyed every minute, but I just think it is time for me to stop.
"With all the youth rugby coaching I do in Cornwall, it is time to let someone else have a go with the county team, but what a way for someone to come in and take the job, off the back of a trip to Twickenham!"
The win over Hertfordshire was the stuff of dreams – though Thomas admitted afterwards it was beyond anything he had come up with!
Scintillating rugby from both sides in beautiful sunshine in front of a crowd well in excess of 2,000 people was in some ways a real hark back to the glory days of county rugby in Cornwall, when they took an estimated 40,000 people to Twickenham for the 1991 final against Yorkshire.
"It was like The Days of Yore!' exclaimed Thomas. "The crowd was unbelievable. You looked around the ground, and everywhere was gold and black. I am sure our treasurer is really delighted!
"It was great and it was a very emotional day for lots of people. The crowd were baying for blood in the second half, and the players responded.
"It encapsulated what Cornish rugby is all about - a big crowd to watch the county team, and the players playing their hearts out.
"It was mind-boggling. It was these types of games I was trying to dream about on Friday night, but I didn't get to the conclusion that we got on Saturday!"
Lancashire lost their final pool game 20-13 away to Cheshire, but still topped Division One North by one point to set up a clash between two of the biggest names in county rugby, in a repeat of the 1992 county final, which Lancashire won 9-6.
Lancashire, who are coached by Mark Nelson, draw their squad almost solely from National One sides Fylde and Sedgley Park, and National Two North clubs Preston Grasshoppers and Caldy.
