Devon cite lack of discipline in County Championship defeat
The showpiece at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham looked like it was going to be a chastening experience as an early Andre Simonetti try was replied by 31 unanswered Cheshire points inside half an hour.
But scores by Richard Friend, Simonetti, Louie Drennan and Leon Horn hauled Devon back into the picture as they twice closed the gap to six points in a breathless contest.
However, conceding a string of kickable penalties ultimately took the game away from them as Cheshire fly-half Mark Williams kicked five goals from the tee to go alongside his five conversions.
Goldsby-West said: 'Our error count was high and it was just unfortunate the scrum didn't go as planned.
'Losing two props to injury hasn't helped us, really, and we didn't want to bring anyone in, we wanted to give the lads who have done the campaign a chance.
'Some boys stepped up and said they would cover, and they've been covering back row and second row, so the scrum was tough and our error count was high.
'But if you watch the game back, I think we played some pretty good rugby.
'We thought if we good quick ball, we could do some damage and we did, but unfortunately every time we got quick ball, we'd make an error or give away a penalty.'
It was a mixed bag for Devon's teams in County Championship finals weekend, with their Under-20s losing their final against Lancashire on Saturday and their women restoring pride by defeating Eastern Counties in the Gill Burns Division 2 final later on Sunday.
Goldsby-West, who was a player-coach at Devonport Services in National Two West last season, is set to take over as Devon's head coach from current boss Dan Parkes next year and has thanked his county's clubs for their help during the campaign.
He said: 'We trained at Brixham once, we trained at Ivybridge mostly and we did one at Exeter, so we tried to move it around a bit.
'It's tough to develop a team of players from different clubs, especially in a county as big as Devon, but they've all bought in and they get on really well.
'I'm unsure whether we're staying in Division 2 or going into Division 1, but either way we'll take it head-on.'
To see all the results from the County Championship Finals visit EnglandRugby.com or follow @RFU on X to see all the in-play highlights.
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