In 1991 and 1999 Cornwall won the County Championship final played at Twickenham Stadium, beating Yorkshire and Gloucestershire respectively to win the Cup.

They lost to Australia 32–3 in the final, and remain the only county side to represent Great Britain at rugby in the Olympics.

The Cornwall Rugby Football Union (CRFU) was formed on 15 October 1884 at a meeting held at the Royal Hotel in Truro.

The Cornwall Cup used to be the premier competition with the top sides such as the Cornish Pirates, Launceston, Mounts Bay and Redruth taking part but has been superseded in recent years by the Super Cup, itself downsized to just the two teams due to the demands of the modern game both in terms of fixture congestion and the increased physical toll on players.

The choice of Cornwall was controversial, as only three of their players had ever represented England, as well as the fact that Australia, who had been on a tour of the United Kingdom, had defeated them 18 points to five.

In a game that had everything, Cornwall found themselves trailing at 16-3 down after 54 minutes, having been tricked when Yorkshire ran a penalty that the Cornish believed they had indicated to kick.

Cornwall fought back to draw level at 16-16 after 80 minutes, and even missed the conversion that would have given them victory in normal time.

Richard Nanckivell's two tries were the inspiration that they could win and Tommy Bassett and Billy Peters put the icing on the cake in extra-time for Cornwall's first title since 1908.

The premier club side in Cornwall are the Cornish Pirates (recently renamed from Penzance & Newlyn RFC) who play in the RFU Championship.

They are hoping to increase their fanbase by appealing to Cornish nationalist sentiment to help them gain promotion to the Aviva Premiership.

As part of the centenary celebrations, the British Olympic Association arranged a match between Australia and the Barbarians which was held at Wembley Stadium on 3 December 2008.

Since 1984 the finals have been played at Twickenham: There are currently 37 clubs affiliated with the union, most of which have teams at both senior and junior level.