These two sides have a history of producing action-packed, tense and highly entertaining encounters, and this latest instalment certainly delivered on all of these and more. In the end it was the Cinderford forwards who paved the way for their victory with a hugely impressive display of scrummaging that allowed them to put their opponents under pressure at key stages of the match.
Chinnor opened the scoring when James Bourton landed a penalty, but the visitors soon responded when hooker Nathan Taylor scored from a lineout catch and drive, with Reece Boughton landing the conversion. The home team regained the lead when Bourton raced over for a try, which he also converted. The lead changed hands again as Cinderford kicked a penalty into the corner and when their driving maul was stopped illegally the referee awarded them a penalty try and handed Chinnor’s Fred Tuilagi a yellow card. Bourton kicked his second penalty just before the interval to make it 13-14 at half-time.
Chinnor started the second-half brightly and soon re-took the lead when second-row Willie Ryan went over, with Bourton adding the extras. Back came Cinderford with Jack Preece scoring from another driving maul and Boughton kicking the conversion. Bourton made it 23-21 with his third penalty, but once again Cinderford replied when Joe Mullis crossed the line to score an unconverted try.
The home side scored straight from the re-start when Nick Smith touched down and Bourton converted. However, it was Cinderford who controlled the closing stages and the winning try came when the home scrum was shunted backwards and replacement Clive Stuart-Smith dotted the ball down, with Boughton converting.
Cinderford; Liam Hemming, Will Baldwin, Jamie Forrester, George Boulton, Tim Andrew, Reece Boughton, Mike Austin, George Porter, Nathan Taylor, James Elliot, Tyler Jerrum, Jack Shields, Matt Lane, Aaron Ryan, Harry Hone.
Repls; Tim Brockett, Joe Mullis, George Evans, Jack Preece, Clive Stuart-Smith.