After last week’s thrilling victory over Plymouth Albion it was back down to earth with a bump for Cinderford as they were well beaten at Ampthill.
The match started badly for the visitors when full-back Dominic Coetzer was yellow carded for a deliberate knock-on and the home side took full advantage of the extra man to score twice. First of all from an attacking lineout hooker Aleki Lutui was driven over for the opening try, then the ball was moved quickly out wide for centre Ollie Morris to score with Josh Sharp kicking both conversions. Cinderford responded well and put their opponents under a lot of pressure for the next twenty minutes, with Dan Pointon kicking a penalty before Coetzer was denied a try for an alleged knock-on, then Jack Shields was held up over the line. As half-time approached the home side moved back upfield with Sharp’s kick ahead and chase bringing him a try which he also converted, before he added the extras to a try from Spencer Sutherland.
Any hopes of a revival from the Forest team in the second-half were soon extinguished as Sutherland scored twice in quick succession to complete his ‘hat-trick’, with Sharp converting the later. Cinderford finally got some reward for their efforts when replacement prop Tom Heard scored from close range, with Pointon converting. But this proved to be only a brief respite as Ampthill finished in the game in fine style with further tries from former Cinderford player Sam Hanks and a second from Morris, both of which were converted by Sharp.
Cinderford; Dominic Coetzer, Sam Smith, Ed Bogue, George Boulton, Jake Morris, Dan Pointon, Alex Frame, George Porter (Capt.), Nathan Taylor, James Elliot, Jack Shields, Ben So’oialo Chan, Harry Hone, Joe Mullis, George Evans.
Replacements; Tom Heard, Tim Brockett, Matt Bennett, Aaron Ryan, Reuben Norville.