Cinderford edged out Hinckley, with Luke McMahon’s conversion of a late Nathan Taylor try proving crucial.
With both teams looking for their first win of the new season it promised to be a close and tense encounter and so it proved to be. Ultimately though it was the superior scrummaging of the visitors and a five out of five kicking performance from the tee by McMahon that made the difference. The first half saw Cinderford dominating at scrum time, with McMahon landing three penalties for 9-0 lead at the interval.
Rory Vowles for Hinckley and McMahon exchanged penalties in the early stages of the second half, but it was the home team who were building momentum and second-row Josh Kent scored the game’s opening try, which Vowles converted. Soon afterwards Hinckley were ahead for the first time in the match at 17-12, when replacement Ollie Bee forced his way over from close range, with Vowles converting. It was all to play for going into the closing stages, but a couple of penalties enabled Cinderford to set up an attacking lineout from which Taylor was driven over and McMahon held his nerve to land the difficult conversion in the pouring rain. A few minutes remained but the visitors held firm and were able to celebrate at the final whistle.
Cinderford; Harry Johnson, Sam Smith, Will Baldwin, Hugo Murray, Elliot Southworth, Luke McMahon, Sam Allford, Harry Edwards, Nathan Taylor, James Elliot, Tyler Jerrum (Capt.), Ben Carpenter, Dan Broady, Joe Mullis, Aaron Ryan.
Repls; George Alexander, George Perry, Jonny Holliday, George Evans, Stan Folks-Underhill.