By A Nomad
February 14 2016

Albion’s run of away successes continues, although this was closer than perhaps indicated by the scoreline. Cinderford RFC is yet another really good rugby club that we have visited this year. The club house has good facilities for those attending; the main bar has generous proportions and is equipped with several TV screens, so we were able to view some of the 6 Nations matches before and after our game.

The ground is situated towards the top of a hill overlooking the town. With the lack of level ground in the ‘Forest’, the club created their pitch by digging into the side of the hill and making a reasonable level playing surface. The pitch no doubt had received its fair share of rain this winter, but it must drain quite well as it was in good condition for the game. From the split level club house it is not possible to see the pitch, being at the foot of a retaining bank. Its location offers a good view out over the town, but that means it is open to the elements. There was a breeze blowing straight down the pitch and persistent light rain for virtually the entire game.

Cinderford won the toss and elected to face into the breeze. From the kick-off Albion immediately put Cinderford under pressure. In fact, the home team looked like the one that had just completed a three hour journey rather than Albion. We soon had the benefit of a penalty which gave field position down in the right hand corner and a catch and drive which was stopped illegally. But Albion, playing the advantage scored near the posts, Herbie Stupple touching down.  This presented an ease conversion for Matt Shepherd; Cinderford 0 - 7 PARFC.

More pressure into the same corner saw a quick succession of scrums; Albion electing for scrums following penalties being awarded to them. Cinderford during this spell had a lock forward sent to the naughty boys stool. Such was their dominance that on the third infringement, the referee ran under the posts awarding a penalty try. The conversion posed no problems for Matt. Cinderford 0 - 14 PARFC.

Within a few minutes the teams had swapped penalty kicks and Matt was able to add another shortly afterwards; Cinderford 3 -20 PARFC.

As the game progressed, Cinderford began to cause Albion the occasional problem, possibly by players on loan beginning to fit into the team’s tactics.  From a penalty, they had a line out deep on Albion’s right wing. A successful catch and drive followed with the try being converted; Cinderford 10 - 20 PARFC. 

With the prevailing breeze one hoped for a good cushion at half time - was a mere 10 points going to be sufficient? Fortunately Albion scored a well constructed try towards the end of the half that involved both forwards and backs. Elliott Ford gathered a speculative punt ahead, avoided the oncoming rushers and once in space, kicked the ball forward. Our kick chase is now a valuable and effective weapon - Cam Setter got to the ball first and punted forward. It was Marc Koteczky who reached it and rather than attempt a speculative fly hack forward, he dropped on the ball to secure possession. The ball was quickly re-cycled and passed across the pitch towards Albion’s left wing, it was two forwards acting like centres who then ensured we scored. Rupert Freestone passed the ball to Ed Holmes who was the first of several overlapping players. He was in space and was able to dive over the line to score. A difficult conversion followed, but Matt Shepherd made it count; Cinderford 10 - 27 PARFC.

By half time the breeze had almost died away and looked less likely to cause Albion too many problems, but problems there were. A number of changes occurred at the interval, Ed Holmes being a casualty. He was replaced by Gregory Sebastien and Nile moved forward into the second row. Unfortunately the match announcer failed to make any announcements, so spectators had to do as best they could.

At the re-start, Albion again were out of the traps immediately. This time it was Billy Searle who was able to make an interception on Cinderford’s 10 metre line and score under the posts. The conversion was a formality for Matt Shepherd and the try bonus was in the bag; Cinderford 10 - 34 PARFC.

Albion could have scored almost straight from the kick-off but for some cynical foul play by Cinderford. Nile fielded the ball and made an excellent break into the home half backed up by Gregory. As they went over the 10 metre line it was two on one. Nile only had to time his pass for a sprint race to the line, but as he was in the act of passing Adam Balding body-checked Gregory laying him flat. A clear opportunity for a try had been stopped, but the foul play was too far out to expect the award of another penalty try. Did it merit a red card?  The referee only waved a yellow one.  It was not possible to see from the far side of the pitch what colour it was, but as the culprit came over to the technical area, we assumed it was yellow.

Although the breeze had dropped, it was Albion’s penalty count that put them under severe pressure for the remainder of the match. When Rupert Freestone received his yellow card, Cinderford again scored with a catch and drive from a line out; Cinderford 17 - 34 PARFC.

There were a number of similar penalties which if taken cleanly would have enabled Cinderford to score, but Albion were able to disrupt several line outs and frequently were able to steal possession. Cinderford scored a third try in a similar manner with just under 15 minutes left to play but missed the conversion was missed; Cinderford 22 - 34 PARFC.

Not long after Freestone returned to action, Dan Collier incurred the wrath of the referee and spent the last 6 minute of the game in the sin bin. Cinderford were fighting by fair means or foul to score. Their all important 4th try would have been worth 2 bonus points, but Albion’s defence stood the test. 

It was Albion’s falling foul of the referee that caused them problems. Many penalties were for off-side.  But were Albion players too anxious when under severe pressure to make their tackles that they advanced too far? Or was it again that their speed of thought and action caused match officials to assume that they must have been offside to have made the tackle? No doubt the coaching staff will endeavour to eliminate as many of these as possible. We achieved what we needed and returned home with 5 points in the bag. No milk was spilt, so no crying needed.

Let’s look forward to the visit of Henley next Saturday - and please weather gods, give us a dry day for a change!

Match Report: Cinderford 22 - 34 PARFC (Nat 1)

Discussion started by Unofficial Plymouth Albion (IP Logged), 16/02/2016 06:39

Unofficial Plymouth Albion
16/02/2016 06:39

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ianbol
16/02/2016 07:57

Brill report. Very interesting read. Thanx Nomad.

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