Cinderfords undefeated start to the season ended with a defeat by a highly impressive Droitwich team on Sunday, in the first ever fixture between the sides. In the week leading up to the game Cinderford lost Ben James and Cam Davis with injuries sustained in school matches and the bad luck continued when Droitwich opened the scoring after 2 minutes with a converted try. The home side drew level with a try from Luke Marrott, following what is becoming one of his trade mark strong runs, that was converted by Jack Guy. The visitors added a further two converted tries to open a 14 point lead before Cinderford added a score of their own when Josh Haddock was held up from a 5 metre penalty & set the ball back for a ruck from which Conor Gresty went over for a unconverted try. Droitwich went on to score two more tries to give a half-time score of 12-33.
The home side came out after the break to play up the slope and despite conceding another couple of tries pulled back with one of their own when scrum-half Niall Rosser picked the ball up at the base of a ruck to snipe over for his first try of the season. Two more points were added from the conversion by Guy but the hosts couldn’t add any further scores. Despite strong performances from Toby Powell and Frazer Montague, and a whole hearted display by Will Baldwin, in the centre, Cinderfords attacks were held up short of the line several times. On the final whistle Droitwich broke having turned over ball from a final Cinderford attack to score a unconverted try which was harsh on the hosts. Despite the margin of victory the game was closer than the score suggests the main difference being that Droitwich converted their possession into points, particularly on the break, whereas Cinderford were unable to do so.
Full credit to the visitors for their performance and to the Cinderford players who stuck together , never gave up and kept trying to reduce the deficit to the very end.
Cinderford U13’s Man of the Match: Toby Powell
Cinderford U13’s Most Improved Player: Louis Brennan
Cinderford Squad: Jack Guy (capt), Josh Haddock, Will Taylor, Jacob Smith, Toby Powell, Morgan Peates, Frazer Montague, Matt Cook, Conor Gresty, Niall Rosser, Will Baldwin, Luke Marrott, Ethan Brookes, Alex Kershaw, Louis Brennan, Mason Coborn