Cinderford staged a remarkable recovery from 38-0 down to earn themselves a draw against Welsh Premiership side Newport in a highly entertaining pre-season friendly.
The visitors were simply outstanding in the first-half playing with great pace and precision to score tries at regular intervals through Jamie Jeume, Rhys Jenkins, Luke Crane, Jonny Morris and a brace from Harri Lang, with Matt O’Brien landing four conversions. Just before the interval George Evans scored an unconverted try for Cinderford, but few could imagine how the momentum of the match would change.
The second-half saw a complete transformation in the home side’s fortunes as straight from the re-start a sweeping move led to a try for Ed Bogue and he soon added a second in similar fashion, with James Butler landing the conversion.
Cinderford continued to dominate for much of the remainder of the match adding further scores through Terence Babarinsa, Sam Smith and Jack Hayes, all of which were converted by Butler as they completed their comeback.
Cinderford Squad; Stefan Hawley, Will Baldwin, Will Mansfield, Dan Spencer-Tonks, Ben McIlwraith, Alex Frame, James Dean, Dewi Wilcox, Ryan Charles, Joe Smart, Harvey Bever, Ben So’oialo Chan, Matthew Bennett, Lewis Beer, George Evans. Ed Sheldon, Sam Smith, Terence Babarinsa, Jack Hayes, Ed Bogue, James Butler, Jimmy Williams, George Porter, Nathan Taylor, Tim Brockett, Tyler Jerrum, Dale Lemon, Matthew Gilbert, Joe Mullis, Harry Hone, Jack Shieds, James Elliot.