Cinderford United 20–21 Old Bristolians
Cinderford United suffered a second successive defeat decided on the final play, as a difficult conversion struck the post and went wide at Bell Sports & Rugby Park.
Jack Harris’s late try had brought United within a point of Old Bristolians, but the missed conversion left the visitors with a narrow victory in a good-quality contest.
United opened the scoring through Harris, with Charlie Stallard converting for a 7–0 lead. Old Bristolians responded with two converted tries to move 14–7 ahead before Stallard’s penalty reduced the deficit.
Max Rendall then crossed to give United a 15–14 advantage at half-time.
A third converted try put Old Bristolians back in front after the break. Harris’s second try set up the dramatic finish, but United were unable to add the decisive conversion.
United manager Paul Morris said:
“For the second game running for the United the game was decided on the final play and for the second game running the United ended up on the wrong side of the result. A difficult conversion that hit the post and went wide and with it defeat was the final act of a good quality game. The step up in quality of opposition is noticeable and it will be even harder again next week. The United need to embrace this and individual egos and ambitions need to channelled into meeting the challenge as a team. The collective needs to be stronger and it will be as we go forward. The team must come first. We were not unlucky or unfortunate as it’s hard to argue that Old Bristolians didn’t deserve to win. However, if our players want to play 1st XV rugby then they have to perform close to that level and make the United the force in this league that it can. Myself and the United coaching team will be working hard to make sure this happens.“