CINDERFORD’s all-important bonus-point fourth try against Tynedale at Dockham Road on Saturday summed up centre Kai Done’s performance.
Chasing down a long clearance kick on the hour, the ball bobbled around in the Northumberland outfit’s 22 with Tynedale looking clear favourites to comfortably win it.
With Jack Adams on England Counties duty, Done got to play his preferred position of outside centre for the first time in National One this season and did not disappoint.
That did not stop former Launceston man Done throwing himself at the ball bravely to snatch an unlikely turnover which was then quickly spun wide for Lloyd Stapleton to dot down.
Having started three times at inside centre and twice at full-back this season, Done has had to bide his time with former Gloucester centre Adams ahead of him.
But the 22-year-old hopes that the hunger and desire he showed in the 33-20 win over Tynedale has done enough to impress the watching Foresters’ coaches.
He said: “It was a good chance for me with Jack being away with the England Counties.
“Jack’s a great player and it was a good opportunity so hopefully I’ve put down a marker because I tried my best so we’ll see how it goes in the next few weeks.
“I wasn’t going to give that ball up and I had to have a bit of hunger to get to it.
“You have to be hungry when you’re in the shadows of someone like Jack Adams!
“When you get an opportunity you have to take it and show plenty of fire in your belly.
“I prefer to play 13 but I’ve been playing full-back, wing and 12 so far so I’ll play anywhere they want to put me, as long as I’m on the pitch then I’m happy.
“My preferred position is at 13 so I was happy about getting the start.
“It was exactly what we needed, five points at home, so I was very happy.
“We have had a few losses on the bounce recently and after the win against Fylde the week before last, the boys really stuck together and showed that we can play well when we want to.”