Sat 16 Oct 2021, 15:00
Despite early signs of promise, league leaders Cinderford maintained their winning start to the season despite a gutsy Tykes showing.
The Tykes were quickest out of the traps, gaining a 0-12 lead in the early stages. The first trie was set up by Jake Brady who linked up well with Harry Jukes down the touchline for the opening trie, which stayed unconverted.
Shorty afterwards, scrum-half Will Hardwick burst through a gap on the edge of the ruck and found halfback partner Charles Morgan on his shoulder who raced under the posts. Charlie Venables added the conversion to extend the visitors’ lead.
The quick start sparked the home side in to action with the platform being laid by a dominant display in the scrum. Joseph Dancer got the hosts off the mark to narrow the gap to 5-12.
Cinderford’s number tens Reece Boughton converted his own try to bring the score level. He added a penalty on the stroke of half time to nudge the home side in front. The Tykes were left to rue an earlier miss penalty from Venables that drifted narrowly wide from just over halfway. The score at the interval read 15-12.
Although on paper the second half seemed a one-sided affair, the Tykes remained a threat with ball in hand. On several occasions, they made breaks but were unable to add the finishing touches in promising positions.
The home side ceased the momentum with five second half tries as their confidence and established combinations began to show. Fullback Mike Wilcox scored after a blistering run from Liam Hemming set up the position. The conversion gave the Cinderford a ten-point advantage, which they never looked like surrendering.
Hemming went from provider to scorer to give his side the bonus point on 54 minutes. Three further tries were added through William Baldwin, George Boulton and William Hendy to give the score line an unbalanced look. However, all these scores were break-away tries as the Tykes fought gallantly to get back into the game.
The final score was 50-12, which perhaps didn’t represent just reward of the effort and endeavour the Tykes put in, practically in their early flurry.
It is not on games like this that the success of the Tykes’ season should be judged but it gives them a good benchmark to work towards.
