A large crowd basking in the sunshine enjoyed a great game of rugby as Redruth did well to overcome a strong Cinderford side. Early on the visitors showed why they in third place but as their forwards tired the Reds came back into the game and encouraged on by the vociferous home support displayed fantastic spirit and teamwork to win on the day.

Cinderford got proceedings under way playing into the stiff breeze and towards Hellfire Corner. The ‘men from the forest’ got on top early on, the first few scrum are ones the Reds will want to forget as the huge Cinderford pack drove the men in Reds back. This gave the visitors good clean possession and they pressed the Reds back, the big forwards and powerful backs stressing the Reds defence. Only a poor pass and a knock-on prevented the first try in Hellfire Corner. The pressure was maintained however and the Reds faced a couple of 5 metre lineouts and following the second of these scrum-half James Williams spotted a gap to scramble over for a try well converted into the wind by Reece Boughton. The Reds now came back into the game and enjoyed a period of possession, a neat kick through from Dan Rutter set up the Reds in the 22. A lineout maul got close to the line and the Reds battered away at the defence, but the ball was held up over the line and the visitors were able to clear. Much of the game was now being played in the Reds half with Cinderford staying on the front foot due to multiple penalties being awarded in their favour; however the Reds defence was strong, the scrum had achieved parity and Luke Hattam in the lineout was causing the visitors problems securing their own ball. When required Rutter was kicking well using the breeze to good advantage and Jack King seemed to be everywhere. An excellent backs move on halfway saw Jack Simmons make good ground up to the visitors 22, a few phases later though a knock-on ended the attack. The visitors powered back into the Reds half with strong running down the middle of the field and the remainder of the half was spent in the Reds 22. In what would turn out to be a crucial period in the match the visitors hammered away at the Redruth line with multiple pick-an-goes. The Reds defence though held firm and a superb turnover from Chris Rovery won a penalty to end the half. This game was too close to call but there were signs that the heavy Cinderford pack was beginning to tire.
Half-Time: Redruth 0 – 7 Cinderford

The Reds started the second period well; a huge shove at a scrum on the 10 metre line saw the Cinderford pack in retreat and after discussions with his assistant the referee awarded the Reds a penalty. Rutter put in a superb touch finder to within 5 metres, the maul made ground and then with a little help from the backs stormed over the line for a Tom Cowan-Dickie try only 3 minutes into the second period. Rutter looked to have judged the conversion perfectly but the wind blew the ball off course. The Reds now put together an excellent period of rugby, they stole a lineout just in the visitors half and launched phase after phase putting the visitors defence under huge pressure. Finally the dam broke and a long pass by Rutter found Luke Johnson on the right wing and he skipped past the last tackle to dive over in Hellfire Corner for an unconverted try on 51 minutes. The Reds could not afford to sit back as after some ‘kick tennis’ a favourable bounce earned the visitors a 50:22 lineout. A clever move at the front put hooker Nathan Taylor in the clear but Rutter did well to tackle him into touch just short of the line. The play stayed in the Reds half and the visitors pressed in the 22 with a number of phases and Johnson was show a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on. A 5 metre lineout powered over the Redruth line but the Reds held the ball up to prevent the try. The Reds saw out the remainder of the yellow card phase with ease and ended it in the visitors half after Rutters kick through was knocked-on. The scrum led to a penalty and a 5 metre lineout, the Reds piled on the pressure and only a poor pass denied a try in the Piggy Lane corner. A scrum followed and the Reds kept up the pressure until Reece Boughton was shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on, so clear, the player was walking towards the touchline before the card was out of the referee’s pocket! The Reds tapped the penalty and hammered away at the line; suddenly King broke a tackle and was over to a huge cheer from the big crowd. Rutter popped over the conversion to put the Reds up 10 points up going into the last 5 minutes. Cinderford hadn’t given up and ended the game on attack in the Reds 22, the Reds held firm though but at the expense of a yellow card to Jarrod Hambly. This turned out to be academic as Cinderford opted to kick the penalty to claim the losing bonus point and end the match.

A fantastic game of rugby with two, good, evenly matched sides going at it for the full 80 minutes. The big crowd left the Recreation Ground with a smile on their face having witnessed possibly the performance of the season from the Redruth side. Cinderford were deserving of their bonus point and on another day it could have been more.

After the match Winners Recruitment award the Tribute Man-of the-Match to Chris Rovery for his all action display.

Next Saturday the 1st XV take a break and the 2nd XV take centre stage as they take on Tavistock with a 2.30 kick-off.

Redruth
Tries: Cowan-Dickie, Johnson, King.
Conv: Rutter.

Cinderford
Try: Williams.
Conv: Boughton.
Pen: Johnson.