Cinderford RFC U16s vs Coney Hill RFC U1s_07 March 2010

Coney Hill RFC U16                   0

Cinderford RFC U16                 55

Despite missing a number of players through injury and illness, Cinderford U16s overran Coney Hill by 55-0 on Sunday, with tries from Adam Wilce, Tom Ward, Toby Farrier, Louis Overthrow(2), Ryan Walding, Jake Bonser(2) and Chance Ridler. Jack Hopkins kicked four from six, and Matt Masters one from three, conversion attempts.  The first half of this match was refereed by up and coming junior referee, Charlie Gayther, himself only 16, who then came on at scrum half for Cinderford for the second half.

Having only been together for around 6-months, this Coney Hill side deserve great credit for putting up a spirited defensive effort, especially in the opening stages as they worked hard to contain Cinderford. However, the Forest of Dean side proved simply too strong, especially in the forwards, for the Gloucester side to cope with.

The Forest side were on top from the kick off and should have scored within the first few minutes, but a combination of basic errors by Cinderford and some fine defending on their try line by Coney Hill meant the visitors were held out for the first ten minutes.  But, with wave after wave of attacking play in the opposition 22, the Cinderford tide could not be held back for long and the opening score came from second row Adam Wilce, running in a try in the right corner on his welcome return following a month long lay off through injury.  Jack Hopkins’ conversion attempt went narrowly wide; 5-0.

The long restart kick was collected by Cinderford and ran directly back at Coney with quick handling across the back line getting the ball out to Tom Ward, who raced up the left touchline, outpacing the cover defence to cross at the corner flag before returning to score under the posts; Jack Hopkins converted for 12-0.  Minutes later, loose-head prop Toby Farrier powered over from close range to register his fifth try of the season, and keep some of the backs worried that he might just catch them up in the race to be top try scorer at the end of season!  When the ball fell forward off the kicking tee, just prior to the conversation attempt, Matt Masters was forced to quickly improvise in the remainder of the allotted minute, but his drop kick attempt sailed wide and the score remain at 17-0.

As Cinderford continued to drive for the line, the Foresters were held up over the line twice in successive minutes by some excellent Coney Hill defending.  But, at the third attempt, when the ball came back to Luke Kell, the Cinderford centre straightened the running line, dropped his shoulder and charged for the posts and showed good strength and awareness in handing-off Coney’s initial tacklers before offloading to blindside flanker Louis Overthrow, who powered through to score under the posts. Jack Hopkins added the conversion to take the score to 24-0.

Just before half time, outside-half Jack Hopkins sent a long searching kick downfield for the backs to chase down, but the ball was collected by the Coney Hill fullback, who sent a long return kick back over Cinderford heads. A wicked bounce of the ball downfield wrong-footed Cinderford’s Matt Masters and Coney Hill were able to capitalise, collecting the ball on the floor and mounting their first and only serious attack on the Cinderford defence but were stopped just short of the try line by a superb, try saving tackle from openside flanker, Luke Crunden. 

Moments later, in their efforts to prevent a Coney Hill score, the rallying Cinderford defence gave away a penalty in front of goal.  Coney Hill could have opted for a kickable penalty to get onto the score sheet but, to their credit, chose to take a tap penalty instead.  However, a bone crunching dump tackle on his opposite number by Luke Kell at centre saw the ball turned over and, from the following ruck, Cinderford were able to clear their lines just before half time.

The second half saw several player changes for Cinderford, ensuring the full travelling squad got a run out.  Chance Ridler caught the Coney Hill second half restart kick on the Cinderford 22 and brushed off several tackle attempts as he proceeded to charge up the right wing, crossing half way and continuing on his charge deep into the opposition half and, for a moment, looked set to score a spectacular solo try before he was felled within 10 meters of the opposition try line in the corner.  Ridler managed to pop the ball up to the following support players and a certain score was on the cards with a four man overlap on the left wing, but a hurried decision to go for the higher risk kick to the corner saw the ball lost forward on attempted collection and the opportunity was squandered. 

Nevertheless, the scoring chances continued to mount and a steady stream of five tries in the next fifteen minutes nailed the lid shut on this game, which was blown up ten minutes early. Firstly, Louis Overthrow powered through from close range to score his second try of the game under the posts and seal a strong forwards drive up the middle, converted by Jack Hopkins for 31-0.  Twins Jason and Ryan Walding were both involved in the next try; Jason setting off on a run at the start of a phase of play that saw an excellent interchange between Tom Ward and Liam Littleton before Ryan Walding went through on the left and returned at the posts for a converted score; 38-0.

Two minutes later, a strong run up the centre by Chance Ridler set up a ruck, deep in the Coney Hill 22, from which second row Jake Bonser emerge with the ball at pace and, using Tom Ward as his foil on the outside, was able to sell two quick dummies before cutting back inside to score.  Five minutes later Bonser crossed the try line at a canter for his second try, this time after a destructive run and popped pass by tight-head prop, Jake “Tank” Drinkwater.  Hopkins’ conversion took the score to 48-0. 

As the score line mounted and the gaps in the tiring opposition defence grew larger, one or two Cinderford players were guilty of starting to look for scoring glory rather than keeping the game simple and fluid.  However, when a glaring overlap on the outside was ignored and the option taken instead to charge infield and goal-bound, the move ran into heavy opposition traffic and the momentum almost lost.  Thankfully, some quick thinking support play recycled the ball back to Matt Masters, who drilled the ball to the corner for a lineout near the Coney Hill 5-meter line.  Jake Bonser stole the opposition throw-in at the font of the lineout out but the ball was lost forwards shortly afterwards.  However the Cinderford forwards then drove the tiring Coney Hill pack off its own scrum put-in and Chance Ridler at No.8 picked up at the back and broke through to score.  Masters then capped things off with a perfectly struck long range conversion kick from out wide to take the final score to 55-0.

Match Report & Photos: Simon Hawkins

…..

123456►