Cinderford edged out Plymouth Albion with tremendous second-half display against the elements to record a first-ever victory over their Devon opponents.
The kick-off was delayed by half an hour due to the visitors enforced late arrival and it the home side who had the advantage of the strong wind behind them in the first-half. Play in the opening exchanges was evenly balanced before Cinderford were awarded a penalty for a collapsed scrummage and outside-half Dan Pointon was on target with his kick at goal from 40m out. Albion pressed hard for their opening points of the match but the home defence held firm and they were eventually able to move up field. A penalty was kicked into the corner and from the lineout the forwards took the ball right up to their opponents line, before scrum-half Alex Frame dived through to get the ball down for an unconverted try after 25 minutes of play.
The visitors responded well and scored two tries in as many minutes. First of all livewire winger Jack Arnott stepped inside the cover defence to go over, then some good handling created the space for flanker Rusi Tuima to score a try, which Fraser Honey converted to seemingly put his side in a strong position at the interval.
Cinderford were forced to defend their line once again in the early stages of the second-half but they were getting the upper hand in the scrummage and a couple of penalty awards enabled them to clear their lines. More strong play from the home forwards enabled them to put the Plymouth line under pressure and when they forced a 5m scrum the referee awarded them a penalty try as their opponents set-piece crumbled.
The home defence held firm in the closing stages and they ran down the clock to gain a terrific victory.
Cinderford; Reuben Norville, Sam Smith, Ed Bogue, George Boulton, Jake Morris, Dan Pointon, Alex Frame, George Porter (Capt.), Nathan Taylor, Tim Brockett, Jack Shields, Ben Chan, Harry Hone, Aaron Ryan, George Evans.
Replacements; Joe Smart, James Elliot, Matt Bennett, Joe Mullis, Dom Coetzer.