Come along and support the new team. KO @ 3.00pm
See you there!

Looking forward to a tough and competitive new year, Cinderford is building on strength and adding to its experienced pool of talented players whom are all growing in stature playing at this level. In an ambitious mood, new director of rugby operations, Andy Deacon, has confirmed that four new players from neighbouring Lydney RFC have now signed up with his national one club. Paul Price and Steve Price join as heavy-duty props, supported by Dean Jenkins in the back row and Martin Knight as full-back/winger.

“It’s great to attract good players from within the county who bring much experience to the squad and come with a hunger for success in the higher national 1 league. The players are being put through the mill in our pre-season training programme ready for a challenging first game away to Barking. We have a tough start really with a second away to Cambridge before our first home game v Macclesfield on 18th September,” said Deacon.

The last couple of weeks have been busy for Deacon as he has also signed 11 other new players:
Rikki Stout (prop, UWIC), Sam Wilkes (hooker, Clifton), Luke Allen (back row, captain at UWIC), Dave McKee (back row, Hartpury), Luke Carter (scrum half, Bath Uni), James Smith (back row, Hartpury), Matt Thomas (centre, Australian club), Seb Merrett (prop, Berry Hill), James Brookes (prop, Italian club) and Welsh 7s international scrum half, Tom Edwards. Jake Carter, winger, is making a welcome return to his forest club from a successful playing career overseas in Italy.

Since taking on the reigns as Cinderford’s newly appointed director of rugby operations Andy Deacon has been building and shaping his 40+ man squad with a passion. “As a club we know we’ve got to do better than we did last year and I am determined to secure our position in playing rugby at the highest level. Our squad is stronger than ever and I still have a few new faces up my sleeve!”

Chris Hall, hooker, has been appointed as the new First XV captain and starts his second year for Cinderford; he is well respected and popular with all the players and was awarded Front Player of the Year last season.

The new-look coaching team comprises Dave Pointon, as senior coach (and head of sport and director of rugby at St Peter’s School), Lee Fortey as forwards coach and Ed Archer as fitness advisor.

Back Row (L-R)
Luke Allen, James Smith, Steve Price, Dean Jenkins, Sam Wilkes, Dave McKee, Seb Merrett
Front Row (L-R)
James Brookes, Jake Carter, Rikki Stout, Tom Edwards, Paul Price, Matt Thomas.

Since taking on the reigns as Cinderford’s newly appointed director of rugby operations Andy Deacon has been building and shaping the squad, coaches and back room team as pre-season training starts on Tuesday 15 June. “We are looking to cement our position in Nat 1 and my job is to build a stronger team, and secure our position in playing rugby at the highest level. I am really excited to welcome Dave as senior coach, he will be a significant addition to the management team – and is very experienced and well respected across the county. I have terrific support in Dave and also Lee Fortey, our forwards coach, as they worked well together previously at Old Pats and both have vast talent in coaching at a high level.” Regrettably former senior coach Phil Greenaway has left Cinderford to focus on his coaching role at Gloucester RFC.

Commenting on his appointment Dave Pointon said: “It was a big decision for me to leave all my friends and colleagues at Old Pats, but I like to think I have left them in a very strong position finishing as runner’s up last year. It’s great to be back working with Lee where we will be looking at all aspects of the game, individual skills, game/player analysis and coaching. My passion lies in working with seniors and developing a cohesive first team of players working at new levels of performance. I also look to continue the flow of new young talent from grassroots and feed them into Cinderford.”

Ed Archer takes up the new position of fitness advisor at CRFC and is excited at joining Cinderford. “My role is to focus on player fitness, conditioning and development, and get the squad ready during pre-season to hit the ground running in August for the friendlies. By implementing a system to monitor and develop the players’ athleticism; we will make an all-important contribution to performance.”
Andy Deacon added: “It’s great to have the experience of Ed who worked with me for many years back at Gloucester RFC. We are looking to build more dynamics and power into our game and I know Ed can sort us out. Our new pre-season fitness programme is already up and running.”

Chris Hall, hooker, has been appointed as the new First XV captain following success last season when he stood in for Andy on a few occasions. Chris starts his second year for Cinderford and is well respected and popular with all the players. He was awarded Front Player of the Year at the recent club awards ceremony.

Matthew Cape, director of rugby at Old Patesians commented: “Dave has been a key part of the recent success on and off the field at Old Pats and is viewed as a friend by all the Old Pats. We have formed strong links with Cinderford and whilst we are very sad to see him leave it is a natural progression for Dave to want to coach the top placed league side, outside the Premiership, in the county. We are sure that he will do Cinderford proud and continue their success and we look forward to continuing to work with him and the rest of the Cinderford management team. I am pleased to confirm that Old Pats have appointed Dan Eddie as backs coach to work with Rob Fidler. Dan will be a real asset to the coaching team having played for England Schoolboys, Scotland Under 21’s, Leeds, Doncaster and England Legends at 10.” (Note to editor: see separate press release from Old Pats for more information.)

About Cinderford RFC
Cinderford RFC was formed in 1886 and was soon playing many leading clubs in England and Wales. The club’s fortunes and that of the local mining community were closely linked and both declined during the inter-war years with a number of local rugby heroes ‘going north’ to seek their fortunes in what is now ‘The Rugby League’. Cinderford RFC re-emerged after the Second World War and regained its Dockham Road home in 1956. Fifty years of hard work and the foresight of a few individuals have furnished the club with a splendid ground that is the envy of many. The club’s 1st XV play in National League Division 1, the ‘United XV’ competes in the South West second XV Merit Table and the ‘Stags’ and ‘Bucks’ have a full list of fixtures many of which are in the Gloucester ‘Citizen’ Merit Table. The Colts XV play in the Bristol Combination Colts competition. A successful mini and junior section provides rugby for youngsters from U7 upwards.

Photo caption: L to R
Lee Fortey, Forwards Coach; Dave Pointon, Senior Coach; Andy Deacon, Director or Rugby Operations; Chris Hall, Hooker and Captain; Ed Archer, Fitness Advisor

CINDERFORD moved a position clear of the National One relegation zone following a narrow win on Saturday.
After the Foresters secured their safety in the division for another year last week with their win at Nuneaton, they have only pride left to play for.
However, their 12th win of the season on Saturday means they will end the campaign not as the side directly above the drop zone, with leaders Esher still to visit the Forest of Dean this weekend.

With ninth-placed Sedgley Park losing at champions Esher, a bonus-point win over the top side could mean Phil Greenaway’s men finish their blighted season ahead of the Manchester outfit.

Prop Andy Deacon and centre Dave Knight announced their retirement before their game, with the home crowd eager to give them a good send-off.

But Blaydon had not read the script as they took the lead after just 12 minutes with number eight Jason Smithson scoring the game’s first try.
Fly half Andrew Baggett improved it further with the conversion to lead 7-0, before Cinderford hit back with a score of their own.
Stand-off Tim Stevenson went over on 20 minutes and full back Danny Trigg converted it to level the scores.
Blaydon regained the lead eight minutes later when second row Chris Weymouth got their second try.
Baggett again made no mistake with the extra points to push his side 14-7 ahead.
Blaydon scored again on 42 minutes when left winger James Fitzpatrick went over, but Baggett could not add to it.

That was the end of the Blaydon scoring as Cinderford came back from 19-5 down to seal the victory.
Second row Ed King was the first to get his name on the scoresheet after 52 minutes, with the reliable Trigg again on target to pull within a score.
Right winger Robert Winchle then reduced the deficit further with their third and final try on 59 minutes, with Trigg giving them the lead for the first time.
Trigg then had the final word with a penalty after 67 minutes to avenge the 36-24 defeat from earlier in the season.

CINDERFORD: D Trigg; R Winchle, P Boston, D Knight, O Winterbottom; T Stevenson, D Pointon; L Fortey, S Barnes, A Deacon, E King, D Bufton; W Foden, M Brown, G Evans. Replacements: B Featherstone, M Wallis, L Langham, M James, K Palm.

BLAYDON: E O’Brien; S Barber, A Dehatty, P Dias, J Fitzpatrick; A Baggett, T Rock; J Clarke, M Hall, A Mackenzie; C Wearmouth, G Jones; K Laughlin, S Riddell, J Smithson. Replacements: P Vinnicombe, D Graham, A Archibald, M Wilson, A Quinn Jacques.

Cinderford RFC U16        14

Hucclecote RFC U16       15

Hucclecote edged Cinderford by the slenderest of margins at 15-14 to win an ill tempered U16s County Cup Final on Sunday in which five yellow cards were shown to the players of both team (three to Hucclecote and two to Cinderford) and where the Hucclecote head coach Bob Fowkes was also red carded early in the second half and sent to the stands by match referee Tim Lawson. 

 
The match started more than twenty minutes behind schedule after an injury to a player in the previous age group final required an ambulance to be called to the player on the pitch.  When the game finally started, Hucclecote got off to a flyer; chasing down a hacked-on loose ball that took a wicked bounce to wrong foot the covering Cinderford defence and present a simple run in to the left of the posts for a converted try that gave the Gloucester side a 7-0 lead in only the second minute.  Hucclecote then extended their lead to 10-0 with a penalty in front of the posts in the tenth minute.  

Two minutes later, Cinderford’s Chance Ridler made a superb run up the left wing from inside his own half, jinking inside and outside the cover defence and outpacing everyone to race through and cross to score, 5-meters the left of the uprights.  Jack Hopkins added the extras to pull the deficit back to 10-7.

After twenty minutes of this testosterone fuelled match, tempers eventually boiled over on the pitch and Hucclecote saw two of their players yellow carded as a result. 

To their enormous credit, Hucclecote defended superbly with just thirteen players on the park but were stretched to the limit when quick handling across the Cinderford backs from left to right saw Adam Wilce draw the last defender and offload in contact to Tom Ward racing up in support on the outside, for Ward to collect the ball at pace and run in unopposed near the right corner flag to put Cinderford in front.  Cinderford’s outside half and man of the match Jack Hopkins then added a fine touchline conversion to make it 14-10 to Cinderford.    However, an unforced error by Cinderford at the restart gifted Hucclecote the opportunity to register an immediate response with an unconverted try in the left corner and a 15-14 lead nine minutes before half time.

Tempers frayed again early in the second half and a touchline incident brought to the attention of the referee by the Assistant referee led to the Hucclecote head being red carded.  Minutes later Hucclecote then saw another player, their third, sent to the sin bin, this time for a late tackle.   The Cinderford back row of Louis Overthrow, Luke Crunden and Kyle Frowen worked superbly in defence to contain the more intensive and abrasive running of the Hucclecote ball carriers.  No.8 Frowen had a particularly fine game in the contact areas, making some outstanding tackles and also in ripping the ball away from Huccelcote arms on a number of occasions to win valuable turnover ball for Cinderford.   

The scoreless second half was not a pretty affair to watch and became increasingly fractured by a continuous string of penalties and unforced errors by both sides, slowing down the tempo and stifling the game. Fifteen minutes from the end, Cinderford were awarded a penalty, 30 yards out on the right.  Jack Hopkins stepped up to strike the ball well and was desperately unlucky to see the ball strike the face of the left upright and rebound back into play and the score remained at 15-14. 

Ten minutes from time, Chance Ridler was yellow carded for an unnecessary late tackle, born out of frustration.  Then, seconds before the full time whistle, Jake Bonser was also sinned binned, for a seemingly inocuous infringement at a line out.  With the referee deciding that no time at all would be added for any stoppages or injuries during the second half, in order to pull back time for the following match scheduled, the game was blown up early and Hucclecote celebrated a hard fought cup victory they just about deserved.

1234...8910►

Match Report & Photos: Simon Hawkins

…..

Once again the Forest front five who have rarely been bested this season were too much for the bigger visitors to handle , Tony Turley, Rhys Hopkins, Nathan Morgan , Zac Miles and Adam Marsh all outstanding  from a scrum Captain and number 8 Jack Shields stormed forward ,good hands from Kemp set flanker Johnson away for an early score .

Not to be out done Redingensians came back  to level the score , The Foresters rallied with centres Skipsey and Turley combing well to make a good ground , with the Davis brothers at 9 and 10  Cinderford looked dangerous when they moved the ball , More brothers were looking sharp with Dan and Guy Pearson both making good tackles ,Sam Jackson took the field usually a scrum half Jackson was pressed into service at flanker and had a fine game , replacement hooker Caine Harris took the field and slotted straight into the scrum well .. The next scrum saw Redingensians surge forward their fly half kicked ahead the ball was collected by full back AJ Jenkins who sliced through the defence he kicked ahead and centre Lee Turley collect the bouncing ball he then outpaced the defence to score under the posts, Charlie Davis converted to close out a good end of season victory .

CRFC
Rhys Hopkins,Tony Turley,Nathan Morgan,Adam Marsh ,Will Kemp,Harry Johnson,Jack Shields, Sam Jackson , Robson Skipsey , Charlie Davis, Mitch Skelton,Guy Pearson, Caine Harris , Andrew Hoult ,Dan Pearson  , Zac Miles ,Andrew Johnson ,Lee Turley

FULL REPORT COMIG SOON

As Cinderford RFC (CRFC) toughs it out in National 1 League, the Pride of the Forest club announces its new look management team for the 2010/2011 season.

Following nine years at CRFC, that has seen the Forest club rise up the ranks from South West 1 to National 2 and in 2008 to National 1, Pete Glanville, 38, finally closes this chapter in his rugby career and, as planned with the club since last year, announces his retirement from director of rugby operations position at the end of the season. This move has been coordinated with Andy Deacon hanging up his rugby boots and quitting playing as prop forward for the club at the impressive age of 45!

Currently employed as a player/coach and a legend not only at Gloucester but also at CRFC, Andy has subsequently been appointed as Cinderford’s new director of rugby operations (DORO) and looks forward to the less physical but equally challenging management responsibility in building a stronger team, securing playing rugby at the highest level and developing players through all levels of the club.

Pete joined CRFC in December 2001 as director of rugby and has helped build and develop the squad that saw year on year promotion right up to National 1 level two seasons ago. Club president, Peter Bell, said: “We owe a great deal to Pete in how he has shaped the club, and taken us on an amazing journey leading his back room team, our coaches and players to this level. He also been instrumental in bringing in great players and signing new talent to build the squad we have today.”

Commenting on his retirement, Peter said: “It has been a difficult decision to take and Cinderford has been my rugby life for the last 9 years. I have had a truly rewarding time and am so proud in what we all have achieved; to be one of the top 40 clubs in the England is a great result.” Pete started his rugby career back in 19822 at Longlevens and went on to play as flanker for Gloucester RFC between 1989 and 2000 and captain in 1997. “I am not leaving rugby completely behind and will still be involved in the game supporting local rugby clubs.”

Andy Deacon, started playing senior rugby for local club, Longlevens, at the age of 15 and made his debut for Gloucester in 1989 in a career that spanned three decades, captaining the side for one season in 1994/95 and retiring in 2004. He joined Cinderford in 2005/6.

“I am pleased to rest my battered body and now focus on a management role. We have come along away and it’s my ambition to take us higher still. We have the Championship in our sights and if we play hard and well we can grow. I have the terrific support in Head Coach, Phil Greenaway and Senior Coach, Lee Fortey who have great experience in playing and coaching at this high standard, and are respected and well known,” said Andy Deacon. “I am excited and passionate about this club as we have a great pool of talent and potential to call upon. And with props like Shaun Knight, Phil Kennedy, and Jake Meadows, it’s time for me to handover to the younger crew. Taking over from Pete allows me to continue my involvement in Cindy from pitchside; less physicality but just as demanding and tough.”

“Personally I’d like to say thanks to Pete for bringing me into the club and doing a great job; he will be a hard act to follow!”

BBC Sport Report with Interview with Andy Deacon