Cumbria came within a whisker of claiming a trip to Twickenham to compete in the County Championship Shield Final, when they lost 37-35 to Leicestershire.

Team manager Mark Richardson said: “It was a game that we could have and should have won, but too many unforced errors and too many missed tackles cost us the game.

"We just made too many mistakes and gave the game away really. The maddening thing was that it was us losing it rather than them winning it which was the key factor. We made too many mistakes in mid-field and let them play their rugby.

"In fairness to Leicestershire, they were a better team than the two we've played, but we could have done it. They were 37-21 up going into the last ten minutes, but we dominated the closing stages and fought our way back. In the final analysis, however, we made too many errors and paid the penalty."

Richardson praised the work of coaches Dan Bowman (who was best man agt a wedding on Saturday and missed the game) and Ian Voortman, along wih the sterling efforts of team secretary Kevin Johnston.

He also aid: "We have a very good squad of players who can take their summer break, come back to their clubs for 2010/11 and then finish-off with another good county campaign we can actually go one step further and make it to Twickenham."

Tries by wingman Joe Nattrass, centre Mike Hawley, props Graham Andrews and Andreas Venter and flanker Jack Rowe, all converted by fly-half Steve Wood, kept Cumbria in the hunt, but three soft tries around half-time proved decisive in Leicestershire's favour.

The two sides were pretty evenly matched although Leicestershire had much the better of the set scrummages and had the Cumbrians going backwards all afternoon.

The home side started the brighter which was hardly surprising after Cumbria’s mammoth bus journey on the morning of the match.

They won two early penalties as a result of the difficulties Cumbria were having at the base of the scrum and were successful with the second for a 3 point lead.

When Cumbria were able to get the ball into open play they looked dangerous and when Paul Newton took a quick penalty in midfield he had the home side at sixes and sevens. David Barton made the telling break and was able to give James Ellar the time and space to put Joe Nattrass in at the corner. Steve Wood hit the difficult conversion perfectly.

Cumbria extended their lead when they won turn over ball just outside the home 22. The ball came quickly to Wood who found Mike Hawley with a flat miss pass and he hit the gap at pace and stepped back inside the full back to go in under the posts.

That was Cumbria 14 - 3 up and they looked good value for it but the ten minutes up to half time was to prove their undoing.

They were to concede three tries in this period and give themselves a mountain to climb. The first came when several Cumbrian tacklers were guilty of falling off the useful home centre who carved his way down the centre of the field from half way. It was a strong run but someone should have brought him down.

The next was a high box kick that was not fielded by the blind side winger and as the first period came to a close and with their tails up Leicestershire were not to be denied a further try when they put their best play of the game together.

Cumbria came out after the break 22 - 14 down and needed a good start to the second half. They got exactly the opposite as they gifted another two tries, the first when a pass went astray and the home side ran the try in from their own half, and a similar long range strike from an interception.

At 34 - 14 Cumbria could have cracked on a red hot day on a rock hard pitch but to their credit they didn't and took the game to the wire.

The Cumbrian forwards took centre stage and pulled a try back from a five metre lineout when Jacques Rowe forced his way over.

With ten minutes to go they were within a score when Andreas Ventner crashed over from close range and Wood bagged his fourth conversion. There was some panic in the home ranks but this was calmed by a penalty to leave Cumbria needing two scores in six minutes.

The Cumbrians never say die attitude saw them score again, again through the forwards and this time prop Graeme Andrews took the ball at full tilt 10 yards out and was not to be denied.

The referee announced a further three mins to be played and a raking touchline kick from Wood put the brave Cumbrians within striking distance but as they drove for the line they were penalised for being accidentally offside and it was not be.

So near at yet so far!. In all these close games it is all ifs and buts and they travelled home disappointed but far from disgraced, they had just given themselves too much to do.

DAVE NATTRASS was at the game and his pictures (in descending order) show Mark Richardson addressing a dejected Cumbia team minutes after the final whistle, along with tries by Graeme Andrews, Joe Nattrass, Mike Hawley and Andreas Ventner.

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