Clifton beat Cinderford 39-18 in an impressive away performance to continue their lengthy run of victories in an exciting second versus third encounter.
The home side took the lead inside two minutes as Harry Johnson slotted home a penalty, but it was Clifton who scored the opening try of the afternoon. Will Owen crashed through the Cinderford defence to run in from the host’s 22 metre to score. Less than 10 minutes later, the visitors added a second by punishing Cinderford’s mistakes once more. After a missed kick to touch, Clifton flew back up the field and scrum half Mitchell Spencer was able to beat the final man with a wicked sidestep to score under the posts. Seven minutes later, Spencer was amongst the action once more as he was shown yellow for disrupting a rampant Cinderford maul 10 metres from his line. Too far out for a penalty try to be awarded, it was up to the home side to change the narrative of the first half. With five minutes left of the first 40, Cinderford scored their first try as winger Sam Smith scored in the corner. With Millner adding another penalty before the break, Clifton went into the break nine points in front.
The away side took their impressive first half form straight into the second as Jake Buckley powered over the Cinderford line to score his side’s third of the afternoon. Cinderford attempted to claw back into the game with a try from Stan Folks-Underhill in the right-hand corner. However, Clifton kept firing back with tries of their own, securing the bonus point moments later with a Jay Evans score. With seven minutes left on the clock, Cinderford added their third through Will Baldwin, but the visitors had the last say when Alex Kilbane intercepted a pass while defending his 22-metre to run in under the posts at the death to cap off an impressive away win.
Cinderford; Sonny Greenman, Stan Folks-Underhill, Will Baldwin, Harry Johnson, Sam Smith, Reece Boughton, Jimmy Williams, Harry Edwards, Nathan Taylor, James Elliot, Tyler Jerrum (Capt.), Ben Carpenter, Aaron Ryan, Dan Broady, George Evans.
Repls; Thomas Hill, George Perry, Jonny Holliday, George Angell, Tom Samak.