Cinderford lost their unbeaten home record this season as a clinical Cambridge side took all their early chances to build up a 17-0 lead and then hold on in the second half to gain a deserved victory.
Cambridge were strong from the start with and despite Cinderford’s impressive defensive mauling effort, once Cambridge shipped the ball out Kieran Frost set up Tom Hoppe with a clear path to the try line. Steff James added the extras. Cinderford were initially dominant in the set piece, winning scrum penalties from the first two scrums. However, it was not long until Cambridge were over the line again as full back, Joe Tarrant danced around home defence and popped the ball to Matt Hema, who claimed five points. Cinderford spent a great deal of time in their opponent’s 22 but they were no match for Cambridge’s well drilled defence and as soon as the visitors went back in the attacking half, Hema snatched his second try, when he took advantage of gaps in Cinderford defence.
After a slow start to the second half, Cinderford seemed to pick their pace up and make things harder for the away side. After lots of back and forth kicking, in classic Cinderford style, George Angell snuck his way out the back of a driving maul and over the line. Cinderford had much more possession in the second half but were repeatedly repelled by a strong Cambridge defence. The home team did, however, manage to narrow the scores just before the final whistle and earn themselves a losing bonus point with George Porter finding his way through the crowd and over the line for a try which Mike Austin converted.
Cinderford; Mike Wilcox, Mason Tonks, Jamie Forrester, George Boulton, Will Hendy, Morgan Adderley-Jones, Mike Austin, George Porter, Nathan Taylor, Shaun
Knight, Dan Hodge, Jack Shields, Matt Lane, Dec Fissenden, Harry Hone (Capt.)
Repls; Tim Brockett, Will Haly, Tyler Jerrum, George Angell, Jimmy Williams.