Wharfedale's Yorkshire captain John Lawn has made an impassioned plea to the Rugby Union's top-brass not to deny county players the chance to run out at Twickenham.

Speaking after Yorkshire had carried off the Tetley's Bitter County Championship by beating Devon 16-9 at 'head-quarters', Lawn, one of three Dalesmen in the line-up, urged RFU chiefs not to switch the venue because of the modest 4,000 attendance.

"Taking the game back to a club venue would rob three-quarters of players who reach the final of the biggest game of their lives in the most famous stadium in world Rugby Union." says Lawn: "It is not the players' fault that so few were there for this game and they should not be penalised in the future.

"I'm sure more could be done to market and promote the final and that is the area officials should be looking at.

"I also think that the RFU should consider what impact a move from Twickenham would have on the competition.

"There is still plenty of pride left in Yorkshire and the Northern Counties, but elsewhere the commitment is obviously not as strong and robbing players of the incentive of playing at Twickenham might be very damaging."

From a personal perspective, elation at carrying off the trophy and completing a Yorkshire double - Wharfedale's Alastair Allen helped Yorkshire Under 20s to a 43-38 victory over East Midlands - was tempered by the quality of the performance.

"We were disappointed not to have played with a bit more style," says hooker Lawn: "We were better in the backs and should have scored more tries.

"Unfortunately, we tried to force too many passes and missed our chances.

"On the credit side, we defended superbly and that proved crucial when Devon put us under real pressure.

"From a Wharfedale angle, it was another feather in the club's cap. Having David Lister, Hedley Verity and myself in action at Twickenham, both Graham Smith and Andy Hodgson involved in earlier games and Alastair Allen in the Under 20s meant that we made a good contribution to the success.

*News that the RFU have blocked the London Welsh move to join the Welsh League appears to have removed even the most slender promotion hopes still flickering at Wharfedale.

The RFU appear set to keep Rugby in Allied Dunbar Two rather than institute a play-off with Wharfedale, but if the Exiles are forced to stay in the English League, even Rugby will not get their reprieve.

* Yorkshire have been grouped with Leicestershire, Durham and this season's Plate winners Notts, Lincs & Derby in next season's County Champoinship, which starts at Easter.

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