Cinderford edged out Canterbury in a tight encounter played in testing conditions throughout.
The home side had the advantage of a strong wind behind them in the first-half and they dominated the opening quarter territorially, but never looked capable of breaking through the visitors defence. Canterbury came more into the game as the half progressed and they broke the deadlock when after some good approach play from their forwards, the overlap was created and Harry Sayers touched down wide out, with Ollie Best landing an excellent conversion.
Cinderford responded with a spell of pressure near their opponents as half-time approached, and when Canterbury second-row Royce Cadman was yellow carded for pulling down a maul, home No8 George Evans forced his way over for a try, which James Moffat converted, to make it all square at the interval.
The second-half was played in heavy rain which made handling difficult for both sides. Cinderford set up an attacking lineout when they kicked a penalty into the corner after 50 minutes of play and their catch and drive enabled hooker Tom Bozzard to touchdown for a try, which Moffat converted.
The visitors continued to look threatening on the counter attack and gave Cinderford some anxious moments in the closing stages of the match, but the home side had done just enough to earn themselves a hard earned victory.
Cinderford; Eamonn Rees, George Bvuma, Sam Goatley, Rob Winchle, Lee Hathaway, James Moffat, Jimmy Williams, George Porter (Capt.), Tom Bozzard, James Tideswell, Dale Lemon, Ed King, Aaron Ryan, Chris McNeil, George Evans.
Replacements; Joe Smart, Will Haly, Matt Lane, Dan Broady, Ollie Whiting.