Stourbridge game ‘massive’ – Fortey

CINDERFORD forwards coach Lee Fortey has labelled his side’s National One game at 10th placed Stourbridge tomorrow as one of the biggest of the season.

The Foresters have quietly slipped down the table to 13th out of 16 teams in the past few weeks following consecutive defeats against London Scottish and Redruth.

The four teams directly above Cinderford are separated by just six points and Fortey knows at this crucial stage of the campaign a win or a defeat could have big ramifications.

“It is a massive game, one of the biggest of the season if you look at some of the results from last week,” Fortey said.

“If we win the game we could go level with them on points in the table and it keeps us going.

“But if we lose then we are right back down there near the bottom again.

“If we get a couple of wins we can go up the table to about eighth and it helps take a bit of pressure off us.”

The Dockham Road side will be boosted by the return of England Under-20s duo, prop Shaun Knight and lock Danny Wright, plus the availability of back Dave Knight.

Cinderford will have happy memories of their trip to Stourton Park last season when they came away with a 37-31 victory.

They will not be short of motivation either as their West Midlands opponents avenged that loss with a 25-21 win earlier this season.

However, Fortey knows how important it is to get back on the winning trail following their two consecutive losses.

“If you look at the game we had with Stourbridge at our place we should have beaten them,”Fortey added.

“We want to go there keep playing rugby and try and move them around a bit because they have got a big pack and we want to try and keep it away from them.

“If you look at the games that we have just lost we could have won them if we had been a bit more clinical in certain areas.”

Source:thisisgloucestershire