Juddians hopes turn to ashes in shut-out

A STRONG performance from the Cinderford forwards laid the foundations for a comfortable bonus point victory over firsttime visitors Tonbridge Juddians.

The visitors suffered an early setback when flanker Ed Varney was yellowcarded for a late tackle and the home side took advantage of the extra man when Reuben Norville offloaded in the tackle to Matt Lane, who went over for the game’s opening try, which James Moffat converted.

Both side’s defences were tested before Cinderford gradually built up the pressure and from a lineout 5m out, a catch and drive allowed prop James Elliot to get the ball down to score an unconverted try after 26 minutes of play.

As half-time approached the momentum was with the Forest of Dean side once again and another lineout catch and drive resulted in a try for hooker Nathan Taylor, which was well converted by Moffat to make it 19-0 at the interval.

Cinderford went looking for the bonus point score as the second half got underway and after more good approach play from their forwards, Lane ran a great line to race clear through under the posts for his second try of the match, which was again converted by Moffat.

The visitors then threatened briefly but they never looked like breaking through a very solid home defence, and the final whistle brought Cinderford a 21st victory of the season.