Lightning will not strike twice for Cinderford

NATIONAL One leaders Esher will face a very different Cinderford side when they swagger into town on Saturday according to Foresters head coach Phil Greenaway.

The table toppers, who hold a five-point advantage over London Scottish, inflicted Cinderford’s biggest defeat since November 2008 when they ran out 62-15 winners in September.

But with the weather forecast set to favour Cinderford and the roar of the Dockham Road faithful cheering them on, Greenaway says Esher could be in for a shock.

“When they beat us last time I think we were very average and we are certainly a very different team to that day,” Greenaway said.

“Conditions will be different and they will not be able to throw the ball around like they did then and we are more clued in now then then.

“We are playing different rugby and we are starting to gel together as a squad now.

“I challenge any team, if we are playing well, if they want to come to Dockham Road in all the mud and the rain and beat us.

“The squad is starting to find its rhythm and heartbeat.”

After a poor start to the season when Greenaway’s men lost their first five games, including that defeat to Esher, they have taken big strides to recover.

Consecutive wins over Sedgley Park and Blackheath have moved the Dockham Road side up to 12th, putting clear daylight between them and the relegation zone.

And with fixtures coming up against strugglers Nuneaton and Manchester after Esher, Greenaway knows January is a big month.

Unfortunately lock Danny Wright and prop Shaun Knight look set to be on Gloucester A duty robbing Cinderford of their services.

But the coach wants to get the New Year off to a bang this weekend.

“January is a big month for us and it starts this week against Esher, not in the second week against Nuneaton,” he added.

“There are plenty of chances to get points and we need to focus ourselves after Christmas.

“It is not going to be an easy fixture and we know we are going to have to play at our best to get the win.

“Esher lost to Sedgley Park this season and we hammered Sedgley Park when we played them so there is no reason why we can not win.

“We hammered London Scottish a couple of years ago so there is no question we can compete with the likes of these teams.”

Scourfield is the only ever present

CINDERFORD Rugby Club have used 39 players so far this season in 14 league matches.

Only centre Dewi Scourfield has featured in every game, with Andy Deacon, Danny Pointon, Phil Kennedy and Dave Bufton appearing in all bar one.

Reuben Haile leads the way on the try-scoring front with eight from 12 appearances, although he did score four in one game against whipping boys Manchester.

Dave Bufton and Paul Knight are next best with five.

Cinderford’s lack of a regular goal-kicker shows in their points list, with Ally Bressington currently topping the pile with 83 points.

He has, however, started just eight games, making two more appearances from the bench.

Joe Smart, Chris Hall and Mike Wilcox have all made seven appearances as substitutes.

When it comes to discipline, Cinderford have picked up 10 yellow cards, with Paul Knight and Mike Panaho collecting two apiece.

Newbury Blues, with 15, have collected more yellow cards than anyone else in National League One.

THE STORY OF CINDERFORD’S SEASON SO FAR APPEARANCES

14 – Dewi Scourfield

13 – Andy Deacon, Danny Pointon, Phil Kennedy & Dave Bufton

11 – Mike Panaho

12 – Paul Knight, Chris McNeil & Reuben Haile

10- Adam Nicholls, Rob Winchle, Ally Bressington & Nigel Matthews

9 – Chris Jones, Luke Plummer & Joe Smart

8 – George Evans, Will Foden & Chris Hall

7 – Paul Boston & Mike Wilcox

6 – Phil Greenaway, Brett Turner & Adrian Duncan

5 – Olly Winterbottom, Danny Wright, Dave Knight & Ed King

4 – Jake Meadows

3 – Dan Hall, Ryan Cumbers & Lee Fortey

2 – Andy Nicholls, Sam Arnott, Ben Saville & Alan Bryan

1 – Steve Hall, Stefan Hawley & Shaun Knight

TRIES

8 – Reuben Haile

5 – Dave Bufton & Paul Knight

4 – George Evans & Adam Nicholls

3 – Mike Panaho, Rob Winchle & Ally Bressington

2 – Luke Plummer & Chris Jones

1 – Will Foden, Dave Knight, Nigel Matthews, Ryan Cumbers, Adrian Duncan, Brett Turner & Dewi Scourfield

POINTS SCORERS

83 – Ally Bressington

46 – Brett Turner

40 – Reuben Haile

25 – Dave Bufton

20 – George Evans & Adam Nicholls

16 – Danny Pointon

15 – Rob Winchle & Mike Panaho

10 – Luke Plummer & Chris Jones

5 – Will Foden, Dave Knight, Nigel Matthews, Ryan Cumbers, Adrian Duncan & Dewi Scourfield

3 – Mike Wilcox

DISCIPLINE RED CARDS

Nil

YELLOW CARDS

2 – Paul Knight & MIke Panaho

1 – Paul Boston, Chris Jones, Rob Winchle, Danny Wright, Dave Bufton & Luke Plummer

Source:thisisgloucestershire

Hill snap up Lydney’s MacRae

CONEY Hill have received an early Christmas present after signing vastly experienced winger Andy MacRae from National Two South side Lydney.

MacRae only joined Lydney from their Forest of Dean rivals Cinderford last summer making the Metz Way outfit his third club in less than six months.

The signing represents a major coup for Paul Morris’ men, attracting a player who has also played at National League team Henley Hawks.

Head coach Morris is delighted to have the big winger on board for their rapidly improving National Three South West campaign.

“He is a significant player for us and we are just pleased to get a player of his ability,” said Morris.

“This is probably the lowest league he has played in so he is an established player with vast experience at Lydney, briefly at Henley Hawks and at Cinderford.

“He comes into quite a variable mix of players.

“He is only 27 or 28 something like that so there is still a lot of good rugby left in him.

“He is going to enjoy it, we want all our players to enjoy it. It is a good time. It is a win-win situation all round.”

MacRae is currently a coach of the Coney Hill Under-10s team making the move from the Severnsiders a more logical step seeing as he lives nearby to the club.

He actually signed over a week ago and was due to play for Coney Hill’s second team last weekend but the game was postponed.

His brief spell at Lydney was curtailed by a run of various injuries which meant the Regentsholme faithful did not get to see him at his best.

He is currently on his way back from a series of knee and eye injuries and Morris says he will have to work hard to displace someone from the current in-form team.

“He has been injured so he has got to work his way back to full fitness,” Morris added.

“We are not in any hurry to rush him back and when he is ready he will be ready.”

MacRae is joining the club at the best possible time as the Metz Way side have won seven out of their last eight matches and shot up to seventh place in the table.

Hill, Lydney and Cinderford have seen a number of players swap colours recently with Mike Hart returning to Coney Hill from Cinderford last summer and Nevaro Codlin and Martin Knight departing Metz Way for Regentsholme.

Source:thisisgloucestershire

Coach Fortey happy with Cinderford’s progression

AFTER failing to hit the lofty heights of last season so far, Cinderford coach Lee Fortey admits he is happy with their progress.

In their first campaign in the old National Two, now renamed National One, they pulled off some big scalps to finish in fifth place in their debut year.

However, a number of agonising narrow defeats have restricted them from repeating their previous feats and they currently sit 12th out of 16 teams.

A total of five teams were relegated from the division above as part of the RFU’s restructuring of the divisions and former Gloucester prop Fortey says it could be worse.

“We are not doing too bad if you look at it on the whole,” Fortey said.

“We have competed quite well overall but we have let ourselves down in certain games.

“If you look at our points total so far we definitely should have a few more.

“But we are happy with where we are because we could be a lot worse off.”

The Foresters’ second campaign at level three was always going to be made tough with so many good sides coming down from the division above.

It was not helped by the big spending London Scottish coming up from Lydney’s division either and being thrust right into the title race almost immediately.

Last summer a number of key individuals also left Dockham Road such as their experienced second row duo, former Cherry and Whites Rob Fidler and head coach Mark Cornwell.

That has left a void of experience in the side with the youngsters sometimes struggling to cope with the departures.

However, a recent change in coaching where new head coach Phil Greenaway has encouraged his team to play more open running rugby seems to be paying off.

Fortey added: “We have changed a few things around recently with our game plan in training and the boys are playing a bit more rugby.

“We are reaping the rewards a bit and we have a bit more confidence.”

Party laid on for the Aussies

CINDERFORD Rugby Club put on an impromptu Christmas party on Saturday afternoon for the touring Australian Schools’ rugby team.

For the second year running, Cinderford Rugby Club’s money-spinning Christmas plans were dashed by bad weather.

The Saturday before Christmas is usually one of the busiest on the club’s calendar and this year looked even more lucrative – with the club set to stage the prestigious England Academies v Australia Schools test match, the final game of the Australian team’s tour.

The severe frost meant the match was called off, like all others in the district, but that didn’t stop the club from making the best of a bad situation.

Commercial manager Matt Bayliss said: “We invited the Australians and all their parents along for a farewell meal in the afternoon.

“I think the Australian lads enjoyed themselves.

“One or two said ‘this is a proper rugby club’, having played a lot of their games on tour at colleges and schools.”

Cinderford expect the RFU to reimburse them for money laid out on Saturday’s game.

John Owen has agreed to speak at the club’s dinner next year, and has promised to do all he can to get the club another international match.

Mr Bayliss added: “At noon on Friday everything was OK, but by 2pm that day we knew we might be in trouble.

“We called the game off at 11am on Saturday. We had arranged to use Hartpury College as a back-up but there was no chance of playing at either venue.”

Source:thisisgloucestershire

Rejuvenated Foresters confident of result at Cambridge

CINDERFORD coach Lee Fortey is confident of returning from high-flying Cambridge with some points in National One tomorrow.

The rejuvenated Foresters have won their last two matches and are looking far more confident.

And Fortey is hoping to take that new-found confidence to Renault Park and record their third consecutive victory to carry on their resurgence.

“I think we can get something out of this week at Cambridge with the way we are playing at the moment,” Fortey said.

“It is going to be a big ask but the boys have gone well recently and confidence is running high and we have nothing to lose.

“We are confident of getting something especially with the way we have been playing in the last three or four games.”

Back to back victories at Blackheath and at home to Sedgley Park have got the Dockham Road side’s campaign back on track.

They now sit in a much healthier position of 12th after losing four games on the bounce before their current mini revival.

The fixture list has not been kind to Fortey’s men as every time they seem to get a run of form going they come up against one of the big boys.

After recording three wins in a row earlier in the campaign, they then travelled to one of the favourites for the title, London Scottish, and narrowly went down 26-18.

The same thing has happened again with a daunting trip to third placed Cambridge – who have won every fixture at home this season including against Scottish.

But Fortey is determined his side keep their run of good form going not just this weekend but into the New Year when their first game back after Christmas is at home to leaders Esher.

“The boys know that when we come back in January we have a tough game straight away against Esher so we have to keep the performances going,” he added.

“We should have won at London Scottish and if we had got something from that game we would have carried on the momentum

“These big games are the ones you have to stand up and make everyone take notice of yourself.”

Aussies roll in to finish off the tour

THE cream of England’s young rugby talent will take on the finest prospects from Australia at Cinderford Rugby Club this Saturday (2pm).

The Australian Schools’ team will be playing the final match of their tour against an England Academies under-19s team.

Some of the most powerful men in English rugby will be at the game, including RFU president John Owen, and director of elite rugby, Rob Andrew.

Cinderford’s commercial manager Matt Bayliss said: “Everyone is working hard behind the scenes, even though we have a first-team game away at Cambridge the same day.

“The pitch will be in excellent condition and we’ll be giving the Australian players a full English Christmas dinner after the game.”
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The England team for Saturday’s match could include Jon Harris, who has played for Leicester Tigers this season, rising Sale star Ryan Glynn and Sam Stanley, the nephew of the great All-Black Joe Stanley.

Leicester wonderboy George Ford and last season’s England under-18s captain Alex Gray are also likely to figure. Ford recently made his first-team debut for the Welford Road club at the age of 16, becoming the youngest player ever to appear in a professional club game.

Scotland head coach Andy Robinson may even be in the crowd if son Oliver lines-up for the England team.

Inside the Dockham Road dug-out will be former Gloucester, Harlequins, Saracens and London Irish fly-half Mark Mapletoft, who has been put in charge of the England Academies squad.

The Australians have suffered some disappointing results on their tour so far, having lost 15-0 to Ireland under-19s and 27-12 to England under-19s at Lymm RFC. They also went down to England under-18s.

They did, however, beat Wales under-19s 10-6.

The Aussies have been rotating their 32-man squad thus far, but are likely to field a full-strength side for the capped international in Cinderford.

Home fans should watch out for Liam Gill and winger Kimani Sitauti, who have both been named in Australia’s sevens squad for next year’s IRB World Series.

Source:thisisgloucestershire

Cinderford U 14’s 22 V Berry Hill U 14’s 5

Playing at the  Cinderford Bridge ground Berry Hill made a bright start moving the ball well and taking an early lead , The Hillmen were making light of the heavy conditions and looked dangerous , Cinderford defended well to Keep the visitors out with Tony Turley and Jack Shields tackling well . A sweeping 60 meter break by fly half Lee Turley took play deep into the oppositions half and fast ruck ball saw industrious flanker Jordan Hopwood crash over ..as the condition of the pitch worsened both side struggled to make ground , The Cinderford lads had the Berry Hill scrum under pressure with Caine Harris, Tony Turley and Nathan Morgan scrummaging well .A strong run by Andrew Johnson took play deep into the Hill half and fullback Jenkins sprinted clear to score ..

 Playing down the slope in the second half Cinderford began to look more comfortable  with flankers Johnson and Allcock linking well with the back line , however to often the last pass wasn’t good enough and several opportunities went begging , From a well worked scrum moved number eight Shields sent Allcock over under the posts converted by Nathan Morgan . The game was made safe as centre Robson Skipsey darted over in the last minute

U14’s

Tony Turley , Nathan Morgan , Andrew Johnson, Harry Johnson, Jack Shields , Rhys Hopkins, Matt Allcock, Andrew Hoult, Sam Jackson ,Charlie Davis  ,Mitch Skelton,Guy Pearson, Zac Miles , Robson Skipsey, Henry Newchap, William Kemp ,Lee Turley , James Moore , Caine Harris ,Dan Pearson , Matt Wilce .Adam Marsh

Sedgley Park ResultsCinderford sink Sedgley with five try blitz

National League One

Cinderford 35

Sedgley Park 18

CINDERFORD backed up last week’s superb away win at Blackheath with an equally impressive home defeat of Sedgley Park.

It was Christmas come early for the home supporters as the hosts played some adventurous, fast-paced rugby.

Skipper Paul Knight said: “I’m proud of the players. The boys are starting to play with confidence and we’re enjoying our rugby.

“We’ve got a mobile pack and we can use the ball going wide. It’s silly trying to match packs bigger than us. We scored five tries today so what more can you ask for”?

The visitors had the better of the early exchanges and deserved their 10-0 lead, courtesy of a Chris Wilkinson try and a penalty and conversion from Steve Nutt.

Cinderford came back into the match with a penalty from Brett Turner and an opportunistic score from winger Rob Winchle.

Just before half-time, Nutt kicked his second penalty to make it 13-8, but the sin-binning of Park prop Nick Flynn on the stroke of the interval proved a turning point.

Cinderford seized the initiative with a score from Brett Turner, who also converted.

Shortly afterwards, Paul Knight showed strength and grit to force his way to the line. Turner converted again.

The match continued at a frantic pace with Park grabbing an unconverted 50th minute try from winger Tom Blackwell.

However, Cinderford hooker Adrian Duncan hit back – finishing off a sustained spell of pressure on the visitors line by securing the bonus point for his side.

Cinderford played some tremendous rugby in the latter stages, despite having Paul Knight sin-binned in the 79th minute for foul play.

In stoppage time, Mike Panoho – who has generally struggled for form and fitness this season – broke from a ruck and sprinted in from 22m. Turner’s conversion brought more roars from the Dockham faithful.

This week, while the Aussies roll into Dockham Road, Cinderford go to Cambridge for their last game of 2009.

Cinderford: Brett Turner, Rob Winchle, Dave Knight, Dewi Scourfield, Olly Winterbottom, Danny Pointon, Paul Knight (capt), Phil Kennedy, Adrian Duncan, Shaun Knight, Dave Bufton, Danny Wright, Adam Nicholls, Chris McNeil, Mike Panaho. Reps: Lee Fortey, Chris Hall, Will Foden, Paul Boston, Mike Wilcox.

CINDERFORD United easily beat Lydney 41-5 with seven tries from George Evans (2), Charlie Simpson-Daniel (2), Kyle Palm, Lloyd Stapleton and Reuben Haile. Stefan Hawley kicked three conversions.

Source:thisisgloucestershire

New approach working for Foresters

CINDERFORD fly-half Danny Pointon says the team’s new open style of running rugby is suiting his own game down to the ground.

The Foresters ended a run of four straight defeats at Blackheath last weekend coming away from the Rectory Field with a 27-18 win.

And Pointon, who only joined the club from National One rivals Stourbridge last summer, says it was down to the new approach head coach Phil Greenaway has adopted.

“We have changed things around a bit and we are being encouraged to play a bit more rugby which suits my game” the former St Peter’s High School captain said.

“Things are starting to click and we are playing some good rugby.

“We are moving the ball wide and trying to get more people into the game and have a good shape.

“We are playing in the wide channels, getting the ball out there, getting away from the slow ball and just playing a bit more rugby and less pick and drive.

“In defence we managed to cancel out where we were conceding points in previous games and keep things tight.”

The new approach is clearly paying dividends as Cinderford picked up only their fourth victory of the season and second away from Dockham Road to sit 13th.

Pointon was awarded man of the match for his display behind the scrum and put in arguably his best performance in a Cinderford shirt after a slow start to the campaign.

Now Phil Greenaway’s men must follow up on that win at home to 10th team Sedgley Park tomorrow, who were relegated from the old National One last season, after suffering some heartbreaking defeats there already this season.

So far the Foresters have played seven times at The Recreation Ground and lost on five occasions, winning just twice.

Four of those defeats have come by less than eight points and Pointon says the fantastic support that the Dockham Road faithful have given the team deserve a victory this weekend.

“We really want to win at home because our support has been fantastic and they deserve a win,” Pointon added.

“They really get behind you so it would be great to get a win for them.

“It has been so frustrating so far because we have only lost a few games at home by a couple of points.”

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