Cinderford were left frustrated as they slipped to defeat at Old Bath Road, as Rams regained their place at the top of National One.
The hosts began strongly, and they opened the scoring after six minutes when a quick exchange of passes put scrum-half Ed Hoadley through for a try, which Fraser Honey converted. The home side continued to press forward only to be repelled by some well-organised defence from the visitors, who eventually got themselves a foothold in the match when Joe Winfield kicked a penalty and the score remained at 7-3 at the interval.
Rams were soon to putting their opponents under pressure again from the re-start and they took a stranglehold on the match when Ben Atkins and then Sam Robson took advantage of a couple of missed tackles to score tries in quick succession, both of which were converted by Honey. Cinderford refused to yield though, and they gave themselves a lifeline when Tom Knight got on the end of an unstoppable driving maul to score a try, which Winfield converted.
The remainder of the match was pretty intense as both teams battled to gain the ascendancy, but it was the home team who had the last say when replacement Steve Bryant scored his team’s bonus point try in the final minute.
Cinderford; Mike Wilcox, Stan Norman, George Gladding, Jamie Forrester, Will Hendy, Joe Winfield, Tom Knight, George Porter, Nathan Taylor, James Elliot, Dan Hodge, Tyler Jerrum (C), Callum Thompson, George Angell, Jack Shields.
Repls; Harry Edwards, Alex Chalkin, Jonny Holliday, Tom Anderson, Jimmy Williams.