Cinderford Starts National 1 Campaign Away to Esher
Saturday 6 September (KO 3pm)- National 1
Welcome to the new 2014/15 season and I hope you all had a great summer; here we are back at it for the start of the new National 1 campaign and Cinderford’s seventh year in the third tier of English rugby.
After an expansive pre-season campaign that saw Cinderford RFC secure wins against Llandovery, Cleve, Cornish All Blacks and Matson, the Foresters are on the road for their the first National 1 league game away to Esher, upbeat and full of confidence. The new signings that have joined the squad have applied themselves very well through pre-season and this will only go to strengthen the squad further as the season progresses. Making their Cinderford National 1 debut are newcomers J
ake Caulfield, Matt Lane, Dan Fry, Mike Uren, Shay Kerry and Andy Uren.
Confident and well prepared, professional rugby manager, Andy Deacon said: “We have worked hard in pre-season and successfully integrated new faces that certainly freshen up our experienced and talented squad. The new boys have bedded in well and are pushing hard for their first First XV start. We have also welcomed new coaches Neil Loader and Saul Nelson to the club and Paul Morris is now supported by Richard Planchant as United coach. They have worked diligently with the guys on new patterns of play, and on the whole we had a really successful preseason programme with four wins from five games featuring players from the First XV and United squad.”
“Coupled with this we have established an even stronger relationship with Gloucester Rugby in a bid to help us achieve our National 1 goals this season; and we extend a warm welcome to the dual registered Gloucester faces in our squad.”
“Today we start our campaign under the new captaincy of Mike Wilcox who was the club’s Player of the Year last season and thank Cinderford stalwart, George Evans for leading the side last season. Away to Esher promises to be a tough opening game, featuring six new faces in our 20 man squad. Like us our opponents, Esher, have also been busy with a successful recruitment drive this summer and will present a strong challenge on home turf.”
Cinderford United also kick off their season in the Shield division and welcome Esher Cardinals to the Beavis Memorial Ground, kick off is at 2.30pm. Good luck to all teams.
Esher v Cinderford RFC
15. Mike Wilcox (capt)
14. Stef Hawley
13. Jack Adams
12. Rob Winchle
11. Sam Baker
10. Mark Davies
9. Alex Frame
1. Chris Bundy
2 Sam Wilkes
3. Jake Caulfield
4. Lance Randall
5. Matt Lane
6. Dan Fry
7. Chris McNeil
8. Mike Uren
Replacements:
16. Elliot Booley
17. Finlay Sinclair
18. Shay Kerry
19. Andy Uren
20. Sam Hanks
Professional Rugby Manager – Andy Deacon
Head Coach – Neil Loader
Forwards Coach – Saul Nelson