Cumbria head for Lutterworth tomorrow for the semi-final of the County Championship Shield against Leicestershire.

The Cumbrians will be looking for revenge win, after a defeat in the Midlands last season, that will earn them a trip to Twickenham.

That would be the icing on the cake for John Owen, a stalwart of Cumbrian rugby who is coming to the end of his year as RFU President.

Cumbria team manager Mark Richardson said: "You wouldn't have guessed we'd be in this position at half-time last weekend at Mansfield. There was only one team in it towards the end of the first half and it wasn't us. I was kicking everything in front of me at half-time.

"When Notts, Lincs & Derby scored soon after the break to lead 27-17, I thought that was it, but then we started to win some ball and put it together. We won the second-half 46-7 and finished with 10 tries and a 63-27 win.

"Now we're on a revenge mission against Leicestershire. They beat us last season, but we didn't play very well. With a Twickenham outing as the prize, we need to do better."

There are two disappointments for the Cumbria camp as Mike Raine (Penrith, pictured)) and Dan Bowman (Workington) are both unavailable because of long-standing commitments.

Raine is away on his stag week-end while Bowman is best man at a wedding.

“Both are key players in the back-row so we have had to re-organise. Ryan Johnson moves to number eight; Andrew Bowe will play at six and we have brought in Jacques Rowe from Aspatria to join them in the back three.

“We have made only one other change with Martin Armstrong coming back after being unavailable last week. We re going to play him on the right wing where we think his experience can do some damage.
“Young Sandy Kerridge is a great prospect, and will start on the bench, but we just felt Martin’s vast experience could be a key weapon down there.”

Semi-final opponents Leicestershire had followed-up a 33-12 home win over Oxfordshire with a 44-13 victory at Peterborough against East Midlands. The final is scheduled for Twickenham on Sunday, May 30.

Cumbria (v Leicestershire at Lutterworth RFC, May 22, 2010, 3pm): James Ellar (Penrith); Martin Armstrong (Workington), Mike Hawley (Penrith), David Barton (Kirkby Lonsdale), Joe Nattrass; Steve Wood, Paul Newton; Glen Carr, James Thornton (all Penrith), Graham Andrews (Aspatria), Rob Dawson capt, Dave Preston, Andrew Bowe (Workington), Jacques Rowe (Aspatria), Ryan Johnson (Penrith), Replacements: David Todhunter (Workington), Andreas Venter (Furness), Jack Clegg (Aspatria), Ben Lanigan (Workington), Rob Quarry (Upper Eden), Gavin Cartmel (Penrith), Sandy Kerridge (Penrith).

Meanwhile Cumbria League clubs should note that Creighton have pulled-off a major coup by clinching a coaching deal with former Scottish international George Graham.
 
Graham, 44, was capped 25 times for Scotland and had three years as forwards coach with the national side until May 2008.

He had started his playing career at Stirling County in 1987 before switching to rugby league in the early 1990’s with Carlisle Border Raiders.

When he returned to rugby union he played for Newcastle Falcons in a very successful six year stint before joining the Border Reivers in 2002.

He had a short stint coaching in Italy but returned to Borders rugby in 2009 when he was appointed head coach of the famous Gala club.

Graham will continue to coach at Gala but as he lives in Carlisle will make Wednesday night his slot for putting the Creighton players through their paces.

Creighton club’s Peter Small said: “We think this is a great appointment for the club which will help raise our profile in the city and across the county.

“George is looking forward to getting involved in the club as he has a lot of fiends associated with the Creighton. We have already had indications that players would like to play for the club now that George has got involved.

“Last season we struggled for players, even though we put-out two teams, but it seemed as though the club as going nowhere. People are talking now in a more up-beat manner and we feel this is an exciting appointment for the club.

“Alex Langley and Andy Goodfellow will be in charge of the team on match days and I am sure they are going to learn a lot from a player and coach of George’s experience and standing.”

If you Creighton guys want a flavour of what George is about here's his first public appearance after being appointed Gala's new head coach last year - http://www.blingcheese.com/video-2/george+graham.htm

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