GARETH Rawlings has already set his sights on more County Championship glory after picking up his third title on Sunday.
The 30-year-old, from Weston Coyney, was part of the Lancashire side which beat their Cornwall counterparts 36-26 to make it back-to-back Twickenham victories over the Duchy.
It was Rawlings’ third title, having previously been part of the Red Rose team which beat Gloucestershire in 2010 and Hertfordshire 12 months’ later.
The powerful Longton forward missed last year’s win against Cornwall because of unavailability, but he played a key role in the county’s sixth successive final appearance.
And Rawlings’ day was made even more memorable when he was joined by three-year-old son Sebastian on the pitch at the end to celebrate the win.
“It doesn’t matter if it is your first time at Twickenham or your fifth, it is still a special occasion,” he said.
“We won by 10 points, but you could see by the reaction of the players how much it meant. It was almost like we’d won by a couple of points.
“It was fantastic to take my son, Sebastian, on to the pitch as the end as well.
“That’s a great memory and I don’t think he’s taken the medal off since we’ve been back.
“We had a good celebration afterwards, but once we sat down in the dressing room there were a few lads already looking to next year.
“The players seem to be up for it and we want to get geared up for 2015 because it is a great competition to play in at the end of the season.”
Lancashire’s victory hopes were left hanging by a thread at half-time, however, as they trailed 23-10.
And a further Cornwall penalty in the formative stages of the second 40 minutes left them favourites to avenge last year’s defeat.
But Cornwall, who had established their lead thanks to tries from Lewis Vinnicombe and Jamal Ford-Robinson, were soon the victims of a sparkling Lancashire comeback.
Mark Rylance had crossed earlier in the day for the holders, but it was Evan Stewart who managed to burrow over to spark the Red Rose back into life.
Captain Chris Johnson, who also had an exemplary day with the boot, crossed over to bring his side back to just four points adrift.
Matthew Lamprey nudged Lancashire ahead with another well-worked try, before Tom Burtonwood put the gloss on the remarkable recovery to ensure that the trophy would remain in Lancashire’s possession for another year.
“It was the story of our campaign. We sat back for 40 minutes, but then finished strongly in the second half,” added Rawlings, whose side had seen off Yorkshire, Cheshire and Northumberland to book their seemingly annual trip to Twickenham for the Bill Beaumont Cup final.
“When Cornwall scored just before half-time it was a bit nervy and I think a few people were on edge.
“But we have faith in each other because we’re a good team and we started to become more upbeat in the changing room at half-time.”
Rawlings admitted that county coach Mark Nelson, who he played under at Fylde, helped to restore faith that they could battle back in the second 40 minutes.
“Mark basically told us that it was in our hands and we could either fight back or we could just let them run away with it,” he explained.
“We all stuck together and, thankfully, managed to turn things around.”
Lancashire: Sean Taylor, Warren Spragg, Christopher Briers, Matthew Riley, Oliver Brennand, Chris Johnson, Ryan de la Harpe; Adam Lewis, Mark Rylance, Benjamin Black, Louis McGowan, Gareth Gore, Gareth Rawlings, Evan Stewart, Matthew Lamprey. Replacements: Simon Griffiths, Peter Altham, David Fairbrother, Paul Arnold, Tom Burtonwood, Philip Baines, Steven Collins.
Cornwall: Kieron Lewitt, Lewis Vinnicombe, Ryan Western, Neilson Webber, Tom Notman, Lewis Webb, Greg Goodfellow; Darren Jacques, Jamie Salter, Craig Williams, Damien Cook, Ben Hilton, Chris Fuca, Tom Rawlings, Barrie John Chapman, Replacements: Richard Brown, Jamal Ford-Robinson, Bryn Jenkins, Tony Whittle, Steve Johns, Matt Shepherd, Sam Parsons.
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