A BATTLING Forest XV earned a 53-53 draw against Wayne Barnes’ star-studded charity side in front of around 2,500 at Lydney’s Regentsholme ground.

Bream boy Barnes saw the likes of Ugo Monye and Kerri Jones run out alongside former England and Lydney man Duncan Bell while Wales and former British & Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland delivered the team talks.

The match itself offered end-to-end Barbarian style with both sides trying to keep the ball alive in the searing heat.

First to open the scoring in just the second minute was Monye, who scorched down the pitch from his own 22 following a Foresters mistake.

The Foresters responded with a try from the old warrior in James ‘Bash’ Basford, before a huge tackle in midfield by Harry Brown saw the ball dislodged and Chris ‘Butch’ Holder ran in from halfway to score.

Hamish Miles scored to make the score 12-10 before further tries for Wayne’s team followed. A stunning finish from Matt Goulding gave them a 24-19 lead.

The second half started with both sides running the ball at every occasion as Monye ran in another try quickly followed by one from Ryan Watling for the Foresters, converted by Craig Jones to make the score now just 29-27.

The Foresters then appeared to wilt for a while in the heat and following a succession of penalties Chris Rovery went over to make it 36-27.

Dave Emery responded sending on big gun Danny Chiu, who immediately shrugged aside all defenders to score a good try.

This was followed almost immediately by another break from the powerful Chui who put Jack Sterry away to score.

Barnes responded by sending ex-Harlequin Jones, who after scores from Chris Foot, Matty Williams and Josh Hannam, crashed over to secure the draw.

Nick Wood blew the final whistle, meaning the Wayne Barnes Select XV retained the trophy as holders.

Following the trophy presentation Barnes said he was proud to be able to keep traditional Forest rugby going whilst raising valuable funds for Breast Cancer Now while local bands kept the players and crowd entertained long into the evening.