Cumbria 23 Dorset & Wiltshire 13: Four years after Cumbria came down to Twickenham and left as runners-up to Leicestershire, that right was wronged as they dominated Dorset & Wiltshire, eventually winning by 10 points.

How appropriate it is that the trophy named in honour of Bill Beaumont, England legend and proud son of the north-west, is going to Cumbria.

Cumbria completely dominated the opening half, but they were susceptible to breaks from midfield. It led to Dorset & Wilts’ only try.

In the opening 10 minutes, Dorset & Wilts had the ball once, for around 60 seconds, and failed to do anything with it. The other nine minutes saw blue shirts rampaging forward, leaving tacklers trailing in their wake.

There was one downside, and that was a dislocated finger for Gary Hodgson after eight minutes, a finger that could not be put back in, on the pitch. He left and - much earlier than wanted - Kirk Chettleburgh replaced him.

Doctors restored the damaged digit and, eight minutes into the second half, Hodgson returned.

Cumbrian domination was turned into points when Peter Weightman made a break which was stopped on Dorset & Wilts’s five-metre line. Cumbria ran multiple phases, looking for an opening and they were duly rewarded.

It was Carlisle skipper Henry Wainwright who spotted a hole in the defensive line and, despite two defenders, he was able to plunge over the whitewash. Mark Ireland, from five metres right of the uprights, made it 7-0.

Dorset & Wilts suffered a blow when flanker Ben Kember was carried off on a cart and Mike Thompson replaced him.

The defending champions had no answer to the Cumbrian pack, which disrupted line-outs and scrums to great effect. With a quarter-of-an-hour on the clock, a Dorset knock-on led to a scrum and then a penalty. Ireland made no mistake with his kick from 25 metres near the left touchline.

Dorset & Wilts’ first attack came after 22 minutes when Jack Young made a good break. He chipped forward, but Weightman gathered the ball near to his line. From a kick to touch, Dorset ramped up the pressure and Ross Williams scored out wide. Sam Baker’s difficult conversion was missed.

Two minutes later, Cumbria suffered a big blow when Weightman was penalised for a high tackle on prop Chris Rowland. Although Rowland was going down before the contact, Weightman was sin-binned.

However, Cumbria shrugged off the man disadvantage and stretched their lead after 27 minutes. Wainwright made an interception and was dragged down 15m out. It led to another Cumbria penalty and Ireland again took the points.

Just before the sin-bin period ended, Cumbria won another penalty and Ireland made it 16-5. More importantly, in that 10-minute period, Cumbria’s defence held firm and the boot of Ireland ensured they won that phase 6-0.

The second half started with an error from Cumbria and, after a period of sustained pressure, Dorset & Wilts turned it into something tangible in the shape of a try for winger Laisiasa Vinakadini. It was set up by a barnstorming run from skipper Gavin Oughan and finished by Vinakadini. Sam Baker had his second missed conversion, both efforts having drifted wide of the far upright.

Glen Weightman was becoming ever more important for Cumbria, and a chip through after 50 minutes was gathered by Dini Noyo but Vinakadini stopped him 10m short of the line. It led to a penalty, but this time, Ireland was wide to the right with his kick 23 metres out.

Dorset & Wilts made another successful interception near halfway, but prop Ashley Stokes was stopped a few metres into Cumbria territory. They did, however, win the ball back on a turnover, 35 metres out. This possession ended tamely with a chip forward that went out on the full.

Another Cumbria error was compounded with the concession of a penalty 25 metres out. This time, Baker made no mistake to reduce the arrears to just three points.

That was as good as it got for the southerners.

With 15 minutes to go, a sniping break by Noyo set up a ruck five metres out, but Cumbria were penalised.

Another attack ended with Glen Wightman just unable to gather a ball as he kicked through. But it was a good spell of pressure from Cumbria, who appeared to have regained the initiative.

The reality was Cumbria needed one more score to settle the game. With three minutes remaining, they forced a scrum 15 metres out and, from the base, Gary Hodgson picked up the ball and rumbled over the line.

He twisted out of a tackle, grounded the ball and was immediately mobbed by his team-mates. A brilliant conversion from Ireland made it a 10-point game with less than a minute to go.