Cinderford Delivering Passion and Performance
Home v Esher Rugby KO 2.30pm
Saturday 12 April — National 1
With just four games remaining Cinderford returns home from last weekend’s long trip to play Esher Rugby in front of a supportive and noisy home crowd. Andy Deacon and his squad are confident that they can beat any side on home soil and will go all out from the whistle. “Esher Rugby, like others in this high-level league, like to play a fluid, keep-the-ball game, which can be very effective with the ability to rack up points quickly. Sitting at 6th in the table, they have had a mixed bag of results recently. I am sure though they will come at us hard to today with Ricky Nebbett preparing his team to perform right to the end of the season. But the same is very true for us!”
“Last weekend, there were plenty of mixed emotions once again following our draw with Tynedale. We put ourselves in a position to win, played really well and totally controlled the game for the majority. Our lineout was completely dominant, the scrum was pretty good and at half-time we knew we had a good platform to go on and win. Mike Wilcox controlled affairs and put us in the right areas. He has been great all year and is probably one of our standout players of the season. I was also really pleased with Stef Hawley, who has stepped in at full-back and showed what a classy player he is. Andrew Bulumakau came in from Gloucester and capped his debut with setting up a try, and generally playing well. Adam Balding returned from his ankle injury and led from the front. He was my man-of-the-match and was vital to our effort. We had to deal with a few players ruled out with injury, including Nev Codlin, Chris Bundy, Mark Davies and George Evans but Adam galvanised the troops and led by example throughout. We always knew Tynedale would come back into it because they were at home and it’s a very tough place to go and play. After the match they were saying it was a fair result because of the possession they enjoyed after the break but it was certainly one we could have won. Having said that if someone had offered us three points from that game ahead of kick-off we would have absolutely jumped at it, having set a target of two. It was emotional, with both sides having the chances to win it but we were delighted to come away with that. The sides around us are not doing too well and we’re very much in a position where our destiny is in our own hands.”
“Esher have faltered a bit recently but smashed Hull Ionians on the weekend and will have nothing to lose. The relegation battle is beginning to take some shape and if we were to pick up a maximum points win, and Henley or Worthing get nothing then they would drop. With our games in hand we are in a good position but we have to deliver.”
Just a few changes in the team this week see Will Davis return from Bristol, and come in for Joe Smart. On the bench, Nev Codlin returns after injury, for Alex Frame, and Lee Fortey replaces Ryan Charles who is back with Gloucester.
Well done also Cinderford United and their triumphant victory here last weekend over Jersey Athletic, a great performance. This week they travel in the opposite direction to play Esher 2nds at 3pm while the Stags are playing Cleve away. Good luck to all teams.
Cinderford RFC / @cinderfordrfc v Esher Rugby/ @esherrugby
Backs
15. Stef Hawley
14. Andy Bulumakau
13. Jack Adams
12. Rob Winchle
11. Sam Baker
10. Mike Wilcox
9. Danny Pointon
Forwards
1. Will Davis
2. Tom Bozzard
3. Elliot Booley
4. Ed King
5. Tom Hicks
6. Roger Birkin
7. Will Keenan
8. Adam Balding (capt)
Replacements
16. Tom Heard
17. Lee Fortey
18. Nev Codlin
19. Clive Stuart-Smith
20. George Mills