Cross Keys 22

Cinderford 20

THERE was no disgrace for Cinderford in losing to a strong Welsh outfit, who finished sixth in the Welsh Championship last season and qualified for the British and Irish Cup.

Had Rory Teague had a better day with the boot, the Foresters would have won.

The first half, which ended 0-0, was an even contest between two well-matched sides.

On 20 minutes, Cross Keys were awarded a penalty inside the Cinderford 22 for a high tackle.

Instead of kicking for the posts they went to the corner, but Cinderford turned over the line-out and were able to clear the danger.

Cinderford's use of the rolling maul began to trouble the home side, who were forced into conceding numerous penalties.

One strong spell of Cinderford pressure saw them go through nine phases before a clever chip from Teague turned the Keys rush defence.

Keys conceded a penalty, which Teague missed.

Two minutes into the second half, poor handling by Cinderford's Simeon James allowed home winger Nathan Trowbridge to run in from halfway unopposed for a converted try.

A swift response by the visitors saw Alan Bryan make a great break from 40m out and flash over in the corner.

Soon after, James intercepted a Cross Keys pass. He thought he had a clear passage to the line, but he was ruled offside and sent to the sin-bin.

Mills kicked the resulting penalty to make it 10-5 to the home side.

Cross Keys got on top against 14 men and added an unconverted try through Marcus Johnstone.

Straight from the restart, the Cinderford forwards piled on the pressure and turned the ball over.

It was fed quickly back to Teague, whose cross-field kick was gathered by Nev Codlin for a try in the corner. Teague missed the difficult conversion.

Keys winger Johnstone darted over for his second try just past the hour mark, but Cinderford finished the match the stronger to score two more unconverted tries.

Another clever Teague cross-field kick was gathered by Codlin, who beat two men and chipped forward.

The ball was regained and moved wide for Kai Done to touch down.

Late in the game, Danny Trigg split the home defence by running a good line.

Keys slowed the ball down to conceded a penalty, which Cinderford kicked to touch.

They won the line-out and drove the hosts back over their line – Dewi Scourfield emerging with the ball.

Teague had a chance to level the match with the last-gasp conversion, but he could not bisect the posts.