National League One

Rosslyn Park 12

THERE was nothing lucky about this win as Cinderford dented the promotion hopes of another leading National One side.

After defending for their lives in the early part of the game, the Foresters grew in confidence and played some superb rugby.

The forwards – admirably led by Ben West and Sam Wilkes – controlled the game, giving the backs a solid platform to work from.

There was no Rory Teague, but Mike Wilcox showed his massive potential by switching from full-back to fly-half to boss the game. His sparky enterprise saw Cinderford run the ball with ambition and precision.

Cinderford director of rugby Andy Deacon said: "Today was a great win for us that wraps up a brilliant January.

"I couldn't be happier with the work rate and commitment that the guys have put in at training and in all our games. We've played the top tier of the league and won three out of four, exceeding the targets that we set ourselves."

Rosslyn Park came out strongly but Cinderford weathered the storm. The home side got their rolling maul going to power over from an attacking line-out on 17 minutes. Powerhouse prop Tom Heard crashed through for the unconverted try.

Seven minutes later, after numerous pick-and-drives, Adam Nicholls cut a dash to the line, which was picked out by a clever delayed pass from Wilcox. Danny Trigg added the conversion.

Cinderford had Park pinned in their own half for the next 10 minutes and the visitors gave away countless penalties. Cinderford elected to take scrum after scrum but came away with nothing.

To rub salt into the wounds , Park flanker Joe Trayfoot burst clear to set up a try for the supporting Mark Lock, which Laidlaw converted with ease.

On the stroke of half-time Cinderford moved the ball across their threequarter line. Full-back Trigg joined in the move, stepping inside a defender to leave Nev Codlin one-on-one with his opposite number. He still had work to do, but twisted out of a tackle to touch down. Trigg's conversion made it 19-7 at the break.

One area Cinderford still need to work on is restarts, and they were caught cold early in the second half. Park seized possession, switched play from one side of the pitch to the other and sent centre Dominic Shabbo through for an unconverted try.

Cinderford continued to dominate in the scrums and a concerted spell of pressure had the visitors reeling. Stan McKeen was sin-binned as Park repeatedly gave away penalties, but rather than go for broke – with a penalty-try a distinct possibility – Cinderford skipper Nicholls opted to take a shot at goal. Luckily for him, Danny Trigg's kick scraped over off a post.

Cinderford remained firmly on top for the remainder of the game as an off colour Park side repeatedly knocked-on and turned possession over.

At long last, the Foresters are turning Dockham Road into a fortress.

Cinderford: Danny Trigg, Nev Codlin, Rob Winchle, Dewi Scourfield, Lloyd Stapleton, Mike Wilcox, Danny Pointon (Luke Carter 72), Tom Heard, Sam Wilkes (Tom Bozzard 62), Joe Smart (Chris Bundy 60), Ben West, Ed King, Will Foden, Adam Nicholls (Luke Allen 68), George Evans. Rep not used: Kai Done.