ORGANISING a solid defence will be the key to Cornwall's chance of victory in the Sunday's County Championship Final - according to head coach Graham Dawe.

For the third year in a row, the Duchy will face off with Lancashire at Twickenham for their chance of glory.

On both the last two occasions, the Red Rose county has come out on top winning 35-26 in 2013 before defeating Cornwall again 12 months later, 36-26.

Speaking to the Packet, former England international Dawe, who was in charge of the side last year, feels Cornwall's defence has improved since then and believes this is what will be the telling factor on Sunday.

Dawe said: "I have no doubt about our attacking ability, but what we need to adjust and organise better is our fringe defence better as that is what Lancashire put pressure on last year.

"We have to create a good defensive situation for our outside backs to work with.

"Hertfordshire showed [on Saturday] their billing as a side with good, hard running backs and aggressive forwards, but our defence was great and in particular, our centre partnership of Nielson Webber and Jake Murphy were outstanding on that front.

"Also in the first half, Jon Dawe made an excellent try saving tackle and absolutely rinsed the guy and it shows it's all well and good scoring tries, but you have to stop them going in too."

Looking ahead to Sunday, the 55-year-old said he hopes there is plenty of support for the county as per usual at Twickenham.

He added they will go into the match without a chip on their shoulders after the last couple of years.

"We needed the crowd to be there on Saturday just to pep everyone up and that is what they did brilliantly," Dawe said.

"The amount of Black and Gold on display against Hertfordshire was great to see and it would be a shame not to give them another airing.

"I have no issues with having to play Lancashire again as I'd always rather play the best team in the north.

"If we're good enough on the day, we can win the game, but if not then we will just have to come back and work hard to keep developing these players.

"Working hard and developing our grassroots rugby around Cornwall through the winter is the only way to go."