Cinderford got their New Year off to a winning start, but they had to work hard to overcome the challenge of a Leeds Tykes team who thoroughly deserved to take home a losing bonus point for their efforts.
Torrential rain at the start of both half’s made the playing conditions extremely difficult throughout, but it was the home team who opened the scoring when scrum-half Mike Austin was on target with a penalty kick at goal after just six minutes. The visitors were quick to respond when turnover ball led to a kick ahead and Charlie Venables won the chase to claim a try, which Tighe Maxwell-Whiteley converted. The home took advantage of a couple of penalty awards to build up the pressure on their opponents and hooker Sam Baker was driven over to score a try, which Austin converted as the Forest side regained the lead. Back came the Tykes and as half-time approached they took advantage of a mix-up in the home defence to allow Kieran Davies to score a try, which Maxwell-Whiteley converted to give his side a 14-10 advantage at the interval.
The second half got underway once again in the pouring rain and not surprisingly the handling errors increased, however Cinderford kept plugging away and their efforts were eventually rewarded when Austin was quickly through to score a try. Austin then landed his second penalty to stretch the home team’s narrow advantage, but the outcome of the match was still very much in the balance until a charge down enabled Cinderford’s Mike Wilcox to win the chase to touchdown for a third try. The final few minutes saw Leeds on the attack and when they were awarded a penalty with the last play Davies landed the kick at goal to earn his team a point.
Cinderford; Mike Wilcox, Mason Tonks, Morgan Adderly-Jones, Jamie Forrester, Will Hendy, George Boulton, Mike Austin, George Porter, Sam Baker, Shaun Knight, Tyler Jerrum, Jack Shields, Matt Lane, Dec Fissenden, Harry Hone (Capt.)
Repls; Tim Brockett, Harry Edwards, Dan Hodge, George Angell, Will Baldwin.