It was a gloomy Oxfordshire camp which made the long trip back from Redruth after Saturday's 27-16 defeat to Cornwall in the last eight of rugby union's Tetley's Bitter County Championship.

Coach Jim McKay praised the Cornish for their spirited display, but was disappointed by his side's failure to turn pressure into points.

Oxfordshire, widely tipped to reach the first Twickenham final in the county's history, had much the better of territory and possession.

But they were frustrated by heroic defence from the home side and basic errors on their own part. "We set out to win this championship," said McKay. "We believed we could it, and we haven't done it, so we are just coming to terms with it now. We made some silly mistakes at times, but the main thing was that we were unable to convert our pressure, although full credit to Cornwall, they defended well.

"We wanted to put a bit more width on the ball and play with a bit more pace, but they were slowing the ball up well and the referee was blowing up quite quickly, which didn't suit our continuity game."

Trailing 19-3 at the break, Oxfordshire hit back in the second half, and they looked likely winners when they trailed 22-16 with just over ten minutes left.

But a late try for the Cornish down in Redruth's notorious Hellfire Corner put the game out of reach. "At 22-16 we started to play well and I thought we had them there," said McKay. But then I felt we had them right from the start of the game. That's not arrogance, we just had this total self belief that we would win this game."