In another breath-taking National League One game Cinderford fought back from an 8-26 deficit just before half-time to snatch a victory that had looked highly unlikely for much of the match.
Sale opened the scoring in the third minute with a try from Kieran Wilkinson, but his conversion attempt failed. The home side soon responded when a neat off-load from Matthew Lane set up Will Hendy to dart over and tie up the game at 5-5. However, it was Sale who hit back with three more tries, earning them a bonus point in the first half. A sublime lineout move saw Josh Brown float a well-placed pass inside to Tom Walsh for his first score. Sale struck again for their third score, when a loose goal line drop-out exposed space on the blindside for Sam Dugdale to dot it down.
From the restart the home side exerted some pressure on their opponents and Mike Austin slotted over a penalty for some precious points on the board. With the score at 8-19, set-piece magic came from Sale’s Wilkinson yet again as he stepped his way to a line break and gave the ball back to Walsh for his second. Cinderford responded before half-time through a Nathan Taylor try and went into the break 13-26.
The home side got their second half off to a perfect start when the outstanding Joe Mullis broke the line and set up Austin to race clear for a try, which he also converted to bring it to just six points the difference. From this point the Foresters dominated for long periods but rarely looked like breaching a well organised Sale defence. They kept plugging away though and with five minutes remaining a strong driving maul rumbled towards their opponent’s line, only to be brought down illegally and the referee awarded them a penalty try.
There was still to be late drama however when the visitors were awarded a penalty right on the final whistle, but Wilkinson’s attempt at goal was blown off target allowing Cinderford to celebrate a thrilling victory.
Cinderford; Jamie Forrester, Mason Tonks, Will Baldwin, George Boulton, Will Hendy, Mike Wilcox, Mike Austin, Tim Brockett, Nathan Taylor, Shaun Knight, Tyler Jerrum, Jack Shields, Matt Lane, Joe Mullis, Harry Hone (Capt.)
Replacements; Alex Chalkin, George Porter, Dan Hodge, Aaron Ryan, Jimmy Williams.