Cinderford Match Report

Cinderford 15 Dursley 0

Cinderford U14s won their second pool match of this years GRFU Junior Cup with a solid 15-0 victory that was a little more convincing in its manner than the winning margin. Playing in glorious morning sunshine on the Dockham Road first team pitch, Cinderford put Dursley under pressure right from the start and, on balance of play, should have scored more tries. The forwards drove hard and well and created an early platform, although the backs occasionally over complicated things when the simple options would have yielded better results. Dursley competed well up front but only rarely threatened with their back division.

In the fifth minute, Cinderford prop Toby Farrier drove hard into the Dursley defence and, when the maul went down, Cinderford skipper Matt Hawkins at No.6 was quick to snap the ball up and pop it to openside Liam Littleton, who crashed over the try line from close range but the ball was dislodged by a last gap Dursley tackle just before it could be grounded.

Two minutes later, Toby Farrier took a tap penalty 5meters out from the Dursley try line and near the left touch, again driving at Dursley and drawing in their defence in numbers. Scrum half Rhys Gardner got the ball out quickly from the back of the maul and away to his waiting backs, who worked it sharply across field and into the hands of fullback Adam Wilce, who went around the stretched defence and over for a try in the opposite corner.

On the quarter hour mark Tom Ward on the right wing went on a superb 40m run, collecting a Dursley kick ahead inside his own half and weaving his way up field through the opposition lines before eventually being brought down deep inside the Dursley 22. Minutes later, after Cinderfords forwards had pinched the ball at a Dursley scrum, it was again Ward who set the pace, with a dazzling run from the 10meters inside his own half, cutting his way through a gap in the defence and away to score.

Dursley looked to regroup and fight back, but fully twenty minutes had passed before they managed to carry the ball any distance into Cinderfords half. Despite some solid pressure by their forwards just before half time, Dursley gifted possession back to Cinderford when they failed to tap the ball at a tap penalty whilst in an attacking position on the Cinderford 22, and the half closed out 10-0 to Cinderford.

Half Time : Cinderford 10 Dursley 0

During the second period, as in the first, Cinderford again dominated the open play but, on numerous occasions when a score looked the likely outcome, the final pass or handling let them down. That said, when Cinderford took a quick tap penalty following a late tackle, Josh Lee showed great hands to tidy up a loose pass and keep the forward momentum going. The ball was then worked quickly back across field to outside half Jack Hopkins whose spun a looping pass just over the fingertips of the attempted Dursley intercept and into the hands of Liam Littleton, who raced away to score Cinderfords third and final try to make it 15-0.

Man of the match for Cinderford was second row Jake Bonser, who worked tirelessly in the mauls and in broken play and won virtually everything at the lineout all morning.