There was a dramatic conclusion to this opening National One league of the season as Cinderford outside-half Joe Winfield held his nerve to convert a try from hooker Nathan Taylor and snatch a thrilling victory over Bishop’s Stortford.
The opening exchanges were evenly contested, but when the home side conceded a couple of penalties visiting scrum-half Tom Knight took a quick tap and raced through the home defence to score a try, which Winfield converted. Stortford enjoyed the better of play for an extended period but were unable to break down a stubborn Cinderford defence, until an error by the visitors in midfield enabled them to level the scores, when Chris Smith intercepted a looping pass and was able to race clear for a try, which was converted by Connor Lloyd. The home team failed to clear their lines from the restart though and immediately conceded a penalty, which Winfield converted, as he did seven minutes later, when Harry Charter was also sent to the sin bin for a breakdown offence close to his own line.
As half-time approached, a kick ahead by Tom Walker allowed Jake Morris to outpace his opposite number to gather and touch down out wide. Lloyd made a great touchline conversion to send his side into the break with a somewhat flattering one-point lead.
The second half started perfectly for Stortford, when Harrison Langworthy charged down an attempted clearance from the restart kick and followed up to touch down, with Lloyd, once more, adding a tremendous touchline conversion. One of only a handful of penalties for high tackles proved very costly for the home team some 10 minutes later, when Cinderford resorted to their traditional lineout maul strength to exert pressure and a well-organised lineout drill saw Nathan Taylor in for a comfortable try at the back of his pack, again converted by Winfield to make it 21-20.
The visitors poured forward again with second-row Callum Thompson prominent and despite some more determined defence inside their own 22, Stortford conceded another penalty, which was well converted by Winfield. The home side fought back, and Ollie Jones rounded off the team’s best move of the game, touching down after supporting inside a tremendous run down the wing by James Ayrton, with Lloyd converting.
With time running out a penalty conceded at a home scrum on the 22m line was to prove decisive, as the kick into the corner set up a 5-metre lineout. Once more the visitors’ well-drilled driving maul proved irresistible, and Taylor registered his second of doubtless many more tries this season to level the scores. The ever-reliable boot of Winfield provided the conversion as the last action of the game to secure a narrow but well-deserved win for his team.
Cinderford; Mike Wilcox, Will Hendy, Will Baldwin, Jamie Forrester, Mason Tonks, Joe Winfield, Tom Knight, George Porter, Nathan Taylor, Shaun Knight, Tyler Jerrum (Capt.), George Angell, Joe Mullis, Jack Shields.
Repls; James Elliot, Tom Anderson, Danny Hodge, Dec Fissenden, Stan Norman.