County Cup Plate Final Cinderford v Cheltenham Tigers

Played at “The Prince of Wales Stadium”, Cheltenham on 14th April 2013.

An early start from Dockham Road at 8.00am saw the team coach leave with hopes of securing victory in the County Plate Final.

On a windy morning, in a tight first half that saw some fine play from both sides, with some excellent defensive work being done and some big hits too, saw Cheltenham take the lead with a try and a conversion to lead 7-0 at half time.

Cinderford playing against the wind in the second half came out with all guns blazing and only some last ditch defending by Cheltenham saw the score remain the same as it was at half time. With Cinderford camped in the Cheltenham 22, the chances came and went. Ben James put in some big tackles, but picked up a serious looking injury that required the ambulance to be called. This held the game up for some 20 minutes. Thankfully, after a trip to Gloucester Royal, Ben’s injury was not as serious as originally thought.

The remainder of the game was switched to another pitch and the injury suffered by Ben seemed to inspire Cinderford and after some fine all round play, Cinderford were rewarded with a fine try from Conor Gresty to reduce the deficit to 10-5. Cinderford were now dominating the game and scored another fine try from Will Baldwin to level the scores.

With the scores at 10-10, this would have been enough for Cinderford to win on tries scored.

With only a few minutes left, Cheltenham pressed one more time and in the last seconds of the game were awarded a penalty in front of the posts. This was converted to give the win to Cheltenham 13-10.

Cinderford can take great pride from this performance and just fell short at the final hurdle.

This was coach Andrew Rosser’s final game after being involved with the team for the last 8 years. All the players and parents wish Andrew all the best and would like to thank him for his time that he has given up in developing the team to where it is today. No doubt, Andrew will still be around next year watching Niall!

Also, thanks to Dave Guy, Scott Powell & Andy Poultney for their tremendous efforts in coaching the team too.

With the tour arranged for next weekend in Swindon, lets hope we can end the season on a high note and look forward to the season 2013/14 with great anticipation.

Cinderford Squad: Josh Haddock, Matt Cook, Aaron Barnett, Finley Poultney, Toby Powell, Ben James, Morgan Peates, Conor Gresty, Niall Rosser, Jack Guy, Ollie Moore, Luke Marrott, Ethan Brookes, Will Baldwin, Cam Davis, Louis Brennan, Ryan Kibble, Jacob Smith, Joe Smith, Aaron Thomas, Jack Robins