The first-ever meeting of these two teams ended in a draw, which was probably a fair reflection on a very well contested match.
For 50 minutes however the visitors, who came into the match in good form, were well below par. Some poor tackling allowed the hosts to open the scoring through Charlie Carter, with Jamie Ellswood converting. Aaron Ryan replied with a try for Cinderford, which Luke McMahon converted, but Hornets responded with tries from Connor Vickery and Chris Francis, along with an Ellswood conversion, to make it 19-7 at the interval.
Justin Shephard added a fourth try for the hosts ten minutes into the second half and they well-set for a comfortable victory, but Cinderford made a few changes and were suddenly transformed. George Evans and James Elliott scored tries, both of which were converted by McMahon and when Nathan Taylor touched down from a driving maul, the visitors were in front at 26-24. A penalty from McMahon nudged Cinderford further ahead, but deep into injury time Hornet’s Corey Baker crashed over to level the scores, however Carter’s conversion attempt drifted wide.
Cinderford; Sonny Greenman, Stan Folks-Underhill, Harry Johnson, Will Baldwin, Sam Smith, Luke McMahon, Sam Allford, Harry Edwards, George Knowles, George Perry, Tyler Jerrum (Capt.), Ben Carpenter, Aaron Ryan, Dan Broady, George Evans.
Repls; James Elliot, Tim Brockett, Nathan Taylor, Jonny Holiday, Hugo Murray.