Gloucestershire Under-20s are on the Twickenham trail again after they stormed to a thumping 48-0 County Championship win over Cornwall at St Austell.

They scored four tries in each half to take them through to the quarter-finals of this season’s competition and they now host Kent on Sunday 31st March at Lockleaze (2.30pm kick off).

A delighted Gloucestershire head coach Richard Planchant, who is in his second season in the role, said: “I’m proud of the performance. Cornwall are a very strong side and this was a hard test for us.

“We will be encouraged by this result, but more importantly we will not get complacent by it.

“This is a group of coachable and talented individuals who are coming together well within this programme.

“We have to keep developing and keep improving. We look forward to the challenge of a quarter-final in a few weeks’ time.”

Planchett, who also coaches Cinderford United, has a very close connection with this competition because of his dad Steve, who was assistant coach to Paul Morris when Gloucestershire won it in 2008 and 2009.

He was also assistant to Mike Panoho when Gloucestershire triumphed in 2011.

The win over Cornwall followed Gloucestershire’s wins over Hampshire at Cheltenham (38-12) and in Devon (43-12) to ensure they finished top of their pool to advance into the knockout stages.

Avonmouth wing Brandon Pettitt got the ball rolling against Cornwall with a try in the opening five minutes and midway through the first half they added a second through Cinderford second row Sam Gregory.

Pettitt added his second and University of Gloucestershire no. 8 and skipper Adam Hopkinson also touched down to help Gloucestershire to a 22-0 half-time lead.

Cornwall had the wind and the slope in their favour after the break but that was of no concern to Gloucestershire who continued to pile on the points.

Replacement hooker Spencer Miller of Gloucester Old Boys scored their fifth try two minutes into the second half and with half-backs Tom Knight of Old Patesians and Tom Price of Cleve pulling the strings, more tries were assured.

Knight and Price were both rewarded for their excellent performances by going over for tries before Newent’s Nathan Brookes raced over for the final touchdown and Price slotted his fourth conversion.

This year’s final will take place at the home of English rugby on Sunday 5th May. The semi-finals are scheduled for 14th April.