CRFC U16 vs Cirencester U16_County Cup Semi Final

GRFU U16s County Cup – Semi Final

 

Cinderford RFC U16        20

Cirencester RFC U16      13

 

Cinderford booked their seventh County Cup Final in eight years with a 20-13 home semi final win over Cirencester at Dockham Road. These two very fine and evenly matched young sides have developed a genuine and great mutual respect for each other over the years, having played in numerous memorable encounters going back to when they were just eight years old, with there rarely being more than a single score to separate them on any occasion, whichever way the results have fallen, and this eagerly anticipated match was no different.

 

Cinderford got off to a sensational start.  Jake Bonser caught the Cirencester kick off to set up a ruck 5 meters in from the right touchline, from which Cinderford picked up to create a solid maul, with Kyle Frowen showing great strength and determination in the thick of it.  When the ball was presented back quickly to the Cinderford back line, what followed was a truly stunning passage of play; flat, fast, inch perfect passing, complimented by great handling at pace, saw the ball rapidly fired right the way across the entire Cinderford back line from right to left, through the hands of Charlie Gayther, Jack Hopkins, Liam Littleton and Luke Kell, before reaching Chance Ridler out wide on the left wing.  Collecting ball at pace, Ridler showed tremendous positional awareness, strength and pace in carving his way through the Cirencester drift defence before breaking through a narrow gap and outstripping everyone to score under the posts with only 45 seconds gone on the clock.  Breathtaking stuff and arguably Cinderford’s finest try of the season to date.  Jack Hopkins added the extras to give Cinderford a 7-0 lead and help steady the early nerves for the home side.

 

Cinderford kept up the early pressure, not letting Cirencester settle into the game in the opening stages and defending well, when called upon, to keep the dangerous Cirencester back row runners in check.  Ten minutes in, Ciren were awarded a penalty in front of the Cinderford posts when the home side were penalised for not releasing the ball when tackled, and Ollie Whiting stepped up to dissect the posts with a well struck penalty kick to make it 7-3.

 

Four minutes later, Cinderford edged further in front.  Having initially been penalised, for a not straight throw-in at a line-out deep inside the Cirencester 22, and gifting Cirencester a defensive scrum and the chance to clear their lines, Cinderford then made immediate amends by turning Cirencester over in the loose play that followed.  This in turn was followed by another passage of slick handling across the full width of the pitch by Cinderford back line that was finished off when Jack Hopkins sent a perfectly weighted chip kick over the top of the Ciren defence on the left for Chance Ridler to race through and pick up on the bounce to score his second try of the match, this one in the left corner.  Superb stuff by the home side.  The touchline conversion attempt fell short and the scores remained at 12-3.

 

Ten minutes later, Cirencester were penalised for not releasing the ball when tackled just inside half-way in a central position and, when vocal frustration by the visitors led to referee Ray Puttock’s decision being challenged, the visitors were marched back 10-meters, putting the penalty within the range of Jack Hopkins, who stepped up to slot an excellent kick through the posts to make it 15-3.

 

Cirencester fought back hard, testing the Cinderford defence thoroughly towards the end of the first half, and the Cotswold side looked to be heading for a certain score in the right hand corner, but some superb defensive work by Cinderford robbed Ciren of the ball and gave No.10 Hopkins the opportunity to send a great kick downfield and into touch near halfway.  Moments later, Matt Masters was unlucky to see his very well struck, long-range penalty kick from just inside half way sail inches past the upright after Ciren were penalised for offside.  Cirencester narrowed the gap slightly, to 15-6, when Cinderford conceded a needless penalty for offside at a Cirencester ruck under the posts and Ollie Whiting again stepped up to slot the kick with ease.

 

Cinderford got off to another great start at the beginning of the second half.  Jake Bonser, having an exceptionally effective game in the Cinderford lineout, pinched another Ciren throw-in inside the opposition 22, but some great work by the Ciren forwards turned the ball back over almost immediately.  However, when the following box-kick clearance fell to Kyle Frowen, the Cinderford No.8 embarked on a direct, powerhouse run back at Cirencester that drew in the opposition defence and helped to create space out wide for the backs to exploit with another rapid handling move, this time for Luke Kell at outside centre to power over in the right hand corner for an unconverted try, putting Cinderford firmly in the box seat at 20-6.

 

The next quarter of an hour saw Cirencester take the game increasingly strongly to Cinderford as the Cotswold side fought gamely to get back into contention.  Cirencester created two outstanding scoring chances during this period, only for the ball carrier on both occasions to get white line fever when within 5-meters of the Cinderford try line, and with overlaps begging on the outside, only to lose the ball forward in contact at the critical moment.  As Ciren continued to press forward, Cinderford’s Jake Bonser made another crucial lineout steal for the Forest side and Sam Morse, in strong support, did superbly at the breakdown to clean up the loose ball.  Moments later, more great defensive work by Cinderford near halfway, to counter a powerful charge by Cirencester, saw Cinderford captain Luke Crunden embark on an excellent run back through centre field to regain valuable ground for his team.

 

Overall, both sides put up tremendous defensive displays throughout, including one memorial, square on tackle by fullback Matt Masters late in the game, but it was Cinderford who had the clear advantage when going forward with the more fluent attacking options at their disposal across the backs.  Every time one side threw themselves forward in a positive attacking move, the other side came up with a superb piece of defence work at the critical moment to turn the ball over.  Perhaps, one of the more significant examples of this was an outstanding piece of defensive work by Cinderford hooker Sam Morse that prevented the Cirencester ball carrier from grounding the ball having crossed the try line eight minutes into the second period.   But, barely a minute later, from the resultant 5-meter scrum, Cirencester’s ever dependable Brendan Musgrave at No.7 smashed through the centre to score under the posts. Ollie Whiting stepped up to add the conversion and bring the visitors back to within a converted score of levelling, at 20-13, with less than two minutes left on the clock.

 

However, in not dealing cleanly with the Cinderford restart kick and allowing it to bounce into touch for a lineout deep inside their own half, Cirencester all but lost any hope of a dramatic late score that might have swung this game back their way.  Cinderford again disrupted the Cirencester lineout trough Jake Bonser and, moments later, the final whistle blew to send Cinderford through as deserved winners to this year’s County Cup Final, to be played on Sunday 25th April at the Prince of Wales Stadium, Cheltenham, where they will meet Hucclecote in a repeat of last year’s final.

 

C’mon Cinderford!!!!!!!!!

 

Cinderford jointly awarded their man of the match award to second row Jake Bonser, who had another outstanding game in the lineout and in the loose, and also to Chance Ridler, for his devastating finishing and power play that saw the Cinderford left winger score two crucial first half tries that set up the platform for this Cinderford victory.

 

 

Match Report & Photos: Simon Hawkins

 

…..  

It’s Cinderford v Dings in the final

DINGS Crusaders will play Cinderford in this year’s County Cup final at the Prince of Wales Stadium in Cheltenham on Wednesday April 7.

The match will kick-off at 8.15pm because it will be preceded by the final of the County Intermediate Cup, which features Drybrook and Cheltenham North. That match will kick-off at 6.30pm.

Mistakes prove costly for Cinderford

TYNEDALE RFC  33 – 19 CINDERFORD RFC

CINDERFORD’S injury problems are mounting ahead of this Saturday’s home clash with Blackheath (3pm).

Loosehead prop Phil Kennedy hurt his knee in the warm-up against Tynedale, which meant a late call-up for Lee Fortey.

Travelling reserve Steve Barnes took Fortey’s place on the bench.

Prop Jake Meadows continued at hooker, because of injuries to Adrian Duncan, Nigel Matthews and Chris Hall.

Danny Wright, Chris Jones and long-term casualty Adam Nicholls also remain on the sick list.

Lee Fortey said: “Tynedale are a good side, but I thought we played some decent rugby.

“Some decisions went against us and we conceded some soft tries, but we came off the pitch generally happy with how we had played.

“We’ll keep positive and move forward. With the injuries we’ve got, I imagine we’ll only do light training this week.”

Tynedale – who have now won their last four matches – scored three converted tries in the first-half through Andrew Murray, Joe Graham and Greg Irvin. Gavin Beasley kicked all of the conversions.

The Foresters got a foothold back into the match when Tynedale prop John Williams was sin-binned following a scuffle.

They cut the deficit to 21-8 with a try from Fortey and a Danny Trigg penalty.

Tynedale started the second-half strongly and stretched their advantage with an Ali Gray touchdown.

It was then Cinderford’s turn to lose their discipline – Mike Panoho getting a yellow card for stamping in a ruck, just four minutes after coming on as a substitute.

Twelve minutes later, a fine backs move by Cinderford prompted by fly-half Matty James was finished off by winger Robert Winchle.

Trigg missed the conversion, but kicked a 70th minute penalty to reduce the deficit to seven points.

However, a smart break by Tynedale’s Charlie Ingall was finished off impressively by a spectacular run to the line from halfway by England Counties centre Jack Harrison.

Cinderford: Danny Trigg, Rob Winchle, Paul Boston, Dave Knight, Kyle Palm, Matt James (rep Tim Stevenson 77), Sam Arnott (rep Danny Pointon 77), Lee Fortey (rep Steve Barnes 68), Jake Meadows, Andy Deacon (rep Shaun Knight 49), Dave Bufton (rep Mike Panoho 49), Ed King, Will Foden, Chris McNeil, George Evans. Attendance: 485

CINDERFORD Stags played some outstanding rugby to beat Old Richians A 32-0.

Mike Wallis, Jake Hinds, Gareth Baldwin, Danny Parry and Matt Bowles scored first-half tries, with Nathan Green kicking one conversion for a 27-0 lead.

The visitors were much more competitive after the interval, but the Stags did manage one more try, an excellent effort from James Pritchard.

Tyne for Foresters to step up

CINDERFORD are aiming to get something out of their long trip to Tynedale tomorrow to help ease their National One relegation worries.

The side from the North East sit fourth with a formidable home record which includes 10 wins from 12 at their ground.

However, Foresters coach Lee Fortey is drawing on the positives from their 29-13 win over Newbury last time and hopes to bring something back to the Forest of Dean.

“With this part of the season everyone knows what it is about. They are quite a good team,” he said.

“I just think we have got to go up there and play and try and get something out of the game whether that is a losing bonus point or a four-try scoring bonus point.

“We are not going up there to lose, we are going there to get something. With eight games to go we are not out of that hole yet.”

The Dockham Road team are just six points ahead of Otley in the relegation zone but just five points separate Cinderford and the next five sides above them.

And with the Foresters holding two games in hand, Fortey knows they are in a strong position to move up.

“We are just above that relegation zone now and have a couple of games in hand and if you look at the group above us some of those team’s results are going to go our way and some are not,” he added.

“Newbury and Stourbridge both have tough run-ins and we have still got to play Sedgeley Park and Blackheath so it is going to be interesting.”

Cinderford will be fresh after no game last week and Tim Stevenson, Sam Arnott and Jake Meadows are putting pressure on the first team from the seconds.

Once Cinderford scored against Newbury the pressure fell off and Fortey knows they can do some real damage.

“One of these days when we put it all together and play for 80 minutes we are going to give someone an absolute roasting,” Fortey added.

CRFC U16 vs Dursley U16_Qtr Final County Cup_14Mar2010

(Gallery photos to follow shortly)  

  

GRFU U16s County Cup – Quarter Final

 

 Cinderford RFC U16        17

 

 Dursley RFC U16              7

 

 

Cinderford progressed to the Semi Finals of this year’s U16s County Cup competition with a hard fought 17-7 win over a plucky and determined Dursley side at Dockham Road.  Cinderford always looked the more dangerous side in open play and had a significant overall territorial advantage in the game but Dursley’s commitment in defence kept the result in the balance virtually to the end. 

 

The Dursley pack had an outstanding game, especially in the tight five, who looked to impose themselves up front, although Cinderford had the superior back row where No.7, Luke Crunden in particular put in some big tackles.  Where Dursley were at their most effective was at the set piece scrum, where their smaller and technically excellent props got underneath their opposite numbers in the Cinderford front row, causing real problems for the home side.  On the other hand, where Cinderford held significant advantage was across their quicker and more fluent back line and the aggression of their hard running, hard hitting centres, especially Luke Kell.  Even so, Cinderford really could have run away with this game on the scoreboard, had their backs opted to use the huge width of the Dockham Road pitch more to their advantage at times, instead of running the ball back infield and into the congested forwards areas.

 

 

 

Cinderford got off to a flying start, stamping their authority on the game early and scoring two unconverted tries in the opening ten minutes.  The first try came after Dursley were penalised for not binding at a scrum inside the Cinderford half; Matt Master sent a booming kick to touch downfield for a Cinderford lineout that was cleaning collected by Adam Wilce and cycled across field where, from a ruck 15-meters from the Dursley try line, second row Jake Bonser sprinted up the blindside to go over at the corner flag.  Jack Hopkins’ touchline conversion attempt fell short; 5-0. 

 

 

Cinderford scored their second try just three minutes later, again following a penalty kick to touch and clean lineout ball by the home side that, on this occasion, set up a superb 20-meter driving maul by the Cinderford forwards finished off by Cinderford’s man of the match and scrum-half, Sam Baker who broke from the back and jinked through the backpedalling defence to give Cinderford an early 10-0 lead.  Jack Hopkins conversion attempt drifted narrowly wide in the strong breeze and the score remained at 10-0. 

 

 

 

Dursley fought back hard and had the better of the final fifteen minutes of the first half, scoring a converted try just before the interval.  Dursley were awarded a penalty just to the right of the posts but the kick arced way wide of the left upright and was collected safely in-goal by Cinderford.  However, inexplicably, instead of dapping the ball down for a 22 drop-out a blood rush to the brain saw Cinderford run the ball back into play and straight into heavy traffic where it was lost forward in contact and driven straight back at Cinderford by the Dursley forwards, putting pressure, needlessly and immediately, back on Cinderford on their own 5-meter line.  From a subsequent scrum, the Dursley forwards combined well and drive over the line for try 5-meters to the right of the posts, which, when converted put Dursley right back into this game at 10-7 just before half time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cinderford came out more focused in the second half, stretching the opposition defence with their improved handling and pace across the backs, but Dursley’s defence was superb and the visitors managed to turn the ball over at critical moments, including two occasions where the Cinderford ball carrier was held up on the try and Dursley then regrouped to secure their defensive lines and clear the ball forward.

 

With the game still finely balanced on the scoreboard, Cinderford pressed hard for a winning score and the final quarter of the match was played almost entirely in the Dursley half.  The game was effectively closed out when Chance Ridler broke through a gap from 10-meters out and crossed the Dursley try line at a canter two minutes before full time.  Jack Hopkins added the conversion to make it 17-7, a gap of two clear scores, with barely 90 seconds left on the clock. 

 

This incredibly hard fought win secures Cinderford a home semi final game against Cirencester on 28th March.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Match Report & Photos: Simon Hawkins

 

…..

Esher won’t be coming

CINDERFORD Rugby Club stand to lose around £5,000 because Saturday’s opponents Esher have cried off.

League leaders Esher have been allowed to postpone their National Division One match because they have six players in the England Counties squad for Friday’s night international match against France Amateurs in Lille.

That is no consolation to Cinderford, however, who were due to hold one of their biggest sponsorship days of the entire season.

It also means there isn’t a single first-team rugby fixture in the Forest this Saturday, with Lydney, Hartpury College, Berry Hill, Drybrook, Bream and Newent all scheduled to play away. Westbury-on-Severn do not have a league game this week.

Cinderford’s commercial manager Matt Bayliss explained: “JCB were set to sponsor the Esher match following their recent business deal with KW Bell.

“This was going to be a big day for Cinderford Rugby Club and some of JCB’s top dignitaries were going to be coming to the town.

“We’re talking about something that could provide a major boost for the whole Forest economy.

“A lot of work has gone on behind the scenes, but it’s all been cut dead. We’re very disappointed.”

Cinderford tried to find alternative opponents for Saturday without any luck.

Esher are one of the best supported clubs in National One with a strong team seemingly Championship bound. “We’ve now got to play them on May 15,” added Mr Bayliss.

“It could be a meaningless game because they might already have won the league, while hopefully we will be safe.”

Cinderford were originally due to host Esher in January, but that match was postponed because of bad weather.

Extending Cinderford’s fixture list well into May could have a big impact on Gloucestershire’s County Championship bid too – because Cinderford’s players are now unlikely to be available for the county. Gloucestershire take on Devon at Plymouth RFC on May 15.

Ivor Horscroft, secretary of the National Clubs’ Association, confirmed Esher were well within their rights to call the game off.

He said: “England Counties is an international team.

“Any side losing three or more players is entitled to postpone their club game.

“As for county rugby, the leagues always take priority.”

Cinderford too good for Newbury

CINDERFORD RFC 29 – 13 NEWBURY BLUES

CINDERFORD coach Phil Greenaway demanded a better performance from his side following last week’s below-par loss away at Stourbridge.

With Otley surprisingly turning over London Scottish, it was just as well he got it.

Cinderford were already on top when Blues prop Chris Rowland was sent off in first-half stoppage time for punching home skipper Andy Deacon to the floor. Deacon needed six stitches in a head wound.

Newbury fly-half Mitch Burton kicked his side in front with a 28th minute penalty, but Cinderford responded with their opening try five minutes later.

Kiwi Matt James kicked to touch from halfway and Cinderford rolled a maul to the Newbury line.

Chris McNeil burst down the blindside to score, with the recalled Danny Trigg landing a fantastic conversion from wide out.

The try settled Cinderford’s nerves and man of the match Trigg added a 34th minute penalty straight from the restart following a good break from George Evans.

A collapsed scrum on halfway led to the incident that earned Rowlands an early shower and Deacon a bloody forehead.

With an extra man, Cinderford immediately seized the advantage – James finding touch and the forwards setting up a good field position.

The ball came back to James, who spotted winger Ollie Winterbottom cutting a good line.

He played in Trigg to the corner, with the full-back impressively converting again.

Turning around 17-3 up, Cinderford wasted several good scoring chances in the second-half.

Burton kicked his second penalty for Newbury on 43 minutes before James grabbed Cinderford’s third try on the hour from a turnover scrum 5m out.

Trigg missed the conversion, but the bonus point was secured nine minutes later when centre Paul Boston raced clear from 30m.

Trigg’s conversion gave him 14 points from the match.

Lively Newbury centre Martin Freeman grabbed a consolation try out of nothing two minutes later, which Burton converted.

Cinderford: Danny Trigg, Olly Winterbottom, Paul Boston (rep Luke Plummer 69), Dave Knight (rep Lee Fortey 77), Kyle Palm, Matt James (rep Tim Stevenson 66), Danny Pointon, Phil Kennedy, Jake Meadows, Andy Deacon (rep Shaun Knight 38), Ed King, Chris Jones, Will Foden, Chris McNeil (rep Mike Panoho 56), George Evans. Attendance: 225

Cinderford RFC U16s vs Coney Hill RFC U1s_07 March 2010

  

Coney Hill RFC U16                   0

 

 

Cinderford RFC U16                 55

 

 

Despite missing a number of players through injury and illness, Cinderford U16s overran Coney Hill by 55-0 on Sunday, with tries from Adam Wilce, Tom Ward, Toby Farrier, Louis Overthrow(2), Ryan Walding, Jake Bonser(2) and Chance Ridler. Jack Hopkins kicked four from six, and Matt Masters one from three, conversion attempts.  The first half of this match was refereed by up and coming junior referee, Charlie Gayther, himself only 16, who then came on at scrum half for Cinderford for the second half.

 

Having only been together for around 6-months, this Coney Hill side deserve great credit for putting up a spirited defensive effort, especially in the opening stages as they worked hard to contain Cinderford. However, the Forest of Dean side proved simply too strong, especially in the forwards, for the Gloucester side to cope with.

 

 

The Forest side were on top from the kick off and should have scored within the first few minutes, but a combination of basic errors by Cinderford and some fine defending on their try line by Coney Hill meant the visitors were held out for the first ten minutes.  But, with wave after wave of attacking play in the opposition 22, the Cinderford tide could not be held back for long and the opening score came from second row Adam Wilce, running in a try in the right corner on his welcome return following a month long lay off through injury.  Jack Hopkins’ conversion attempt went narrowly wide; 5-0.

 

 

 

 

 

The long restart kick was collected by Cinderford and ran directly back at Coney with quick handling across the back line getting the ball out to Tom Ward, who raced up the left touchline, outpacing the cover defence to cross at the corner flag before returning to score under the posts; Jack Hopkins converted for 12-0.  Minutes later, loose-head prop Toby Farrier powered over from close range to register his fifth try of the season, and keep some of the backs worried that he might just catch them up in the race to be top try scorer at the end of season!  When the ball fell forward off the kicking tee, just prior to the conversation attempt, Matt Masters was forced to quickly improvise in the remainder of the allotted minute, but his drop kick attempt sailed wide and the score remain at 17-0.

 

As Cinderford continued to drive for the line, the Foresters were held up over the line twice in successive minutes by some excellent Coney Hill defending.  But, at the third attempt, when the ball came back to Luke Kell, the Cinderford centre straightened the running line, dropped his shoulder and charged for the posts and showed good strength and awareness in handing-off Coney’s initial tacklers before offloading to blindside flanker Louis Overthrow, who powered through to score under the posts. Jack Hopkins added the conversion to take the score to 24-0.

 

Just before half time, outside-half Jack Hopkins sent a long searching kick downfield for the backs to chase down, but the ball was collected by the Coney Hill fullback, who sent a long return kick back over Cinderford heads. A wicked bounce of the ball downfield wrong-footed Cinderford’s Matt Masters and Coney Hill were able to capitalise, collecting the ball on the floor and mounting their first and only serious attack on the Cinderford defence but were stopped just short of the try line by a superb, try saving tackle from openside flanker, Luke Crunden. 

 

Moments later, in their efforts to prevent a Coney Hill score, the rallying Cinderford defence gave away a penalty in front of goal.  Coney Hill could have opted for a kickable penalty to get onto the score sheet but, to their credit, chose to take a tap penalty instead.  However, a bone crunching dump tackle on his opposite number by Luke Kell at centre saw the ball turned over and, from the following ruck, Cinderford were able to clear their lines just before half time.

 

 

 

The second half saw several player changes for Cinderford, ensuring the full travelling squad got a run out.  Chance Ridler caught the Coney Hill second half restart kick on the Cinderford 22 and brushed off several tackle attempts as he proceeded to charge up the right wing, crossing half way and continuing on his charge deep into the opposition half and, for a moment, looked set to score a spectacular solo try before he was felled within 10 meters of the opposition try line in the corner.  Ridler managed to pop the ball up to the following support players and a certain score was on the cards with a four man overlap on the left wing, but a hurried decision to go for the higher risk kick to the corner saw the ball lost forward on attempted collection and the opportunity was squandered. 

 

Nevertheless, the scoring chances continued to mount and a steady stream of five tries in the next fifteen minutes nailed the lid shut on this game, which was blown up ten minutes early. Firstly, Louis Overthrow powered through from close range to score his second try of the game under the posts and seal a strong forwards drive up the middle, converted by Jack Hopkins for 31-0.  Twins Jason and Ryan Walding were both involved in the next try; Jason setting off on a run at the start of a phase of play that saw an excellent interchange between Tom Ward and Liam Littleton before Ryan Walding went through on the left and returned at the posts for a converted score; 38-0.

 

Two minutes later, a strong run up the centre by Chance Ridler set up a ruck, deep in the Coney Hill 22, from which second row Jake Bonser emerge with the ball at pace and, using Tom Ward as his foil on the outside, was able to sell two quick dummies before cutting back inside to score.  Five minutes later Bonser crossed the try line at a canter for his second try, this time after a destructive run and popped pass by tight-head prop, Jake “Tank” Drinkwater.  Hopkins’ conversion took the score to 48-0. 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the score line mounted and the gaps in the tiring opposition defence grew larger, one or two Cinderford players were guilty of starting to look for scoring glory rather than keeping the game simple and fluid.  However, when a glaring overlap on the outside was ignored and the option taken instead to charge infield and goal-bound, the move ran into heavy opposition traffic and the momentum almost lost.  Thankfully, some quick thinking support play recycled the ball back to Matt Masters, who drilled the ball to the corner for a lineout near the Coney Hill 5-meter line.  Jake Bonser stole the opposition throw-in at the font of the lineout out but the ball was lost forwards shortly afterwards.  However the Cinderford forwards then drove the tiring Coney Hill pack off its own scrum put-in and Chance Ridler at No.8 picked up at the back and broke through to score.  Masters then capped things off with a perfectly struck long range conversion kick from out wide to take the final score to 55-0.

 

 

 

 

 

Match Report & Photos: Simon Hawkins

 

…..

Bressington helps sink ex-Cinderford team-mates

Stourbridge RFC 20 – 13 Cinderford RFC

CINDERFORD are nervously looking over their shoulders at the National One relegation zone following this defeat, writes Will Wood.

Stourbridge completed a league double over the Foresters to leave them six points outside the drop zone in 13th position.

Neither side could breach the defences in the opening half an hour, before Cinderford centre Dave Knight was yellow-carded for an offence at a ruck.

Cinderford fly-half Matty James registered their first points with a penalty on 33 minutes, but the home side constructed a well-worked try to take the lead.

Ben Hughes carried the ball strongly in the loose and some superb handling from winger Charlie Fellows saw him squeeze in at the corner.

Alastair Bressington, who joined Cinderford last summer from Stourbridge but returned to them in January, could not add the conversion.

It was 5-3 at the break and soon after the interval James put Cinderford back in front with another penalty kick.

Defences were again on top until a frantic final 10 minutes saw the game come to life.

Stourbridge scored two tries to seal the game, with Cinderford’s consolation try not enough to claim a losing bonus point.

First, former England Students hooker Harry Collins went over from a driving line-out move on 70 minutes.

Then six minutes later his front row colleague Adam Sturdy crossed in almost identical fashion.

Bressington converted to push Stourbridge into a 17-6 lead with minutes remaining.

Stourbridge had prop John Vickers sin-binned and Cinderford took advantage.

Winger Kyle Palm popped up to score a late try on 80 minutes which James improved to pull them within four points.

But Bressington knocked over a crucial penalty kick in added on time to confirm the win and deny Cinderford anything from the game.

STOURBRIDGE: Williams; Bressington, Billig, Barkley, Fellows; Robinson, Higgins; Sturdy, Collins, VIckers; Hughes, Atkinson; Rodley, Cooper, Pearson. Reps: Thomas, Baker, Homer, Watkins, Richardson.

CINDERFORD: Hawley; Winchle, Boston, D Knight, Palm; James, Pointon; Kennedy, Hall, S Knight; Bufton, Wright; Jones, Foden, Evans. Reps: Meadows, Duncan, Panaho, Stevenson, Arnott.

Source:thisisgloucestershire

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

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