Chosen Hill Under 16’s V Cinderford Under 16’s
Played at Chosen Hill on 19th October 2014

This game was a re-match of the 2013/14 County Plate final which Cinderford won so were keen not to lose that winning feeling!

On a very windy day, Cinderford were playing with the wind in the first half and were keen to make use of the conditions.

In a hard first 5 minutes, many handling errors contributed to a scrappy start to the game, but Cinderford soon stamped their authority and following some fine work by the forwards, some slick handling saw the ball reach Cinderford’s try machine, Will Baldwin, and he made no mistake in scoring the first try of the game to give Cinderford a 5-0 lead. The conversion was missed.

The game continued in a scrappy manner and some handling errors from both sides lead to a string of penalties being conceded. Cinderford were the more disciplined and scored a 2nd try from Jack Guy which he converted to give Cinderford a lead of 12-0.

Chosen Hill played some fine rugby to keep themselves in the game, but following an ill disciplined rash moment, Chosen Hills prop was red carded for a head butt on Toby Powell which seemed to spur the home side on. The home side scored 2 quick, unconverted tries to reduce the deficit to 10-12.

As half time approached, Cinderford were pressing for a score to extend their lead and Jack Guy scored a 2nd try and converted to give Cinderford a half time lead of 19 -10.

Cinderford kicked off the 2nd half into a strong wind and the Chosen Hill flanker gathered the ball and ran through the defence to score a fine try which was converted to reduce the lead to 19-17.

Cinderford were rattled by this and after some stern words they seemed to regain their composure and Will Baldwin crossed the line, which was converted by Jack Guy to restore the advantage to 9 points.

Chosen Hill responded with 2 further unconverted tries to lead by 27-26 going into the final 5 minutes of the game.

In a tense last few minutes, Cinderford turned down a penalty kick which could have won the game and went for the jugular with some fine forward play. In the last minute, on the 7th phase, the ball reached Jack Guy who powered home under the post’s and converted to give Cinderford a hard fought but well deserved 33-27 victory.

In the 2nd half, Cinderford’s stand in scrum half, Cam Davis had his own “specsavers” moment. Cinderford were awarded a penalty on the Chosen Hill 5 metre line. Thinking on his feet, not, Cam took a quick tap and dived over the line for what he thought was a try, only to be told that the 5 metre line is NOT the try line. Obviously he had to stand on the chair after the game. Never mind Cam, your parents were proud of you for a split second.

Cinderford’s man of the match was Josh Tull who put in some impressive tackles on numerous occasions.

Cinderford Squad.

Josh Haddock, Niall Rosser, Jacob Smith, Cam Davis, Alex Rowles, Jack Guy, Jack Robbins, Matty Cooke, Will Baldwin, Ben Thompson, Josh Tull, Jude Hunt, Mason Carr, Morgan Peates, Ryan Owens, Toby Powell, Louis Brennan.