Stroud Colts in party mode with a big victory over powerful Cinderford

It had been a big week of news. Boris was in trouble for having lots of lockdown parties. The Colts showed their keenness to follow national news stories by reliving the current news stories the night before. Some of the kids (but never the parents!) turned up a little bleary eyed. Lucas won the badge for realism though by turning up for pre-match warmups in his trench coat and Hawaiian party shirt. He must have come straight from London and a real Boris party. Because he was late and had no change of clothes he was made to warmup Hawaiian style.

Cinderford were the visitors to Fromehall. The customary powerhouse from the Forest and always up for a cracking game of rugby. It was great to see ex-Stroud player Keyan turning out for the Foresters. We all knew the power of his game and he likewise knew our tendencies so it would be a battle in the backs – brute force and nous in equal measures.

Stroud were a similar lineup the week before. GRFU County games had now finished so a few players were back, but Will at 10 was still missing, and a few other backs, but the pack was looking formidable and plenty of subs available so fresh legs that could be crucial in the 2nd half, especially on a heavy pitch that was showing more dirt than could stick to Teflon Boris, and a heavy going that would make Prime Ministers Questions look easy in comparison.

Forwards: Ryan, FreddieW, Stoner, Laurie, Darion, JoeM, FreddieP, Mr T
Backs: Lewis, Myles, Dougie, Arthur, Jonty, JoeE, Alex
Subs: Jedd, Lucas, Callum, Jake, James

Cinderford kicked off and FreddieP got clattered with a perfectly timed tackle which put Stroud under pressure until Myles kicked the ball away. Cinderford quickly kicked back and Alex got into a ground battle to wrestle the ball back to the Blue side. Another relieving kick and Cinderford had the games first lineout near halfway and a chance to assert themselves…..until Laurie stole the ball but Stroud knocked on. So a Cinderford scrum and a chance to reassert themselves…..until Stroud pushed them off the ball with an almighty surge. 2-0 to the Stroud pack and a big statement made early! Mr T and Laurie both had powerful runs but Cinderford were very disciplined and skillful at the breakdown and stole the ball. This would be a theme all game in the fierce battle of the breakdown as both teams battled for supremacy and control of the ball. Cinderford had a penalty they kicked to halfway to set up a good attacking position.

Cinderford won their lineout and box kicked high to the winger who knocked on the squirmy ball. Cinderford then won their scrum to start to claim parity in the forwards battle. They attacked right but stout tackling from Dougie, Myles, and FreddieW stopped them. Darion pounced and stole the ball and Lewis with expert vision saw a gap and box kicked but Cinderford were well organised and didn’t panic. They worked their way back up the pitch with good running lines. Mr T slowed them up as they ran over him but Cinderford got the ball out to their backs and an excellent line from the outside centre as everyone keyed on Keyan and his dummy line gave Cinderford a long run into the 22 and a chance to score….until Alex nullified the threat with a last gasp tackle and quickly retreating Stroud defenders then won a penalty when a try looked inevitable. A clearing penalty kick to halfway and another lineout win gave Mr T the platform to attack from but again Cinderford snaffled a turnover and attacked back. Dougie found himself at the centre of the battle putting in 3 tackles in close succession but Stroud were too keen at the breakdown and got penalised. An attacking lineout on the Stroud 22 was stolen by Mr T who made 20 metres and well positioned Stoner took the ball on deeper. The forwards were combining magnificently with quick hands, good clearouts and supporting lines…..but Cinderford kept their discipline and won another turnover in their own 22 that they quickly kicked away to JoeE who fielded it well and ran it back strongly. The ball went to ground from a loose pass but Darion showed great inventiveness to hack it on and not reach for the low ball.

Cinderford only had 1 option when a rampaging lock is running down his gruber kick…they sensibly kicked it away but Alex fielded it well and ran it back, out to JoeE on the wing who drew his man and set Jake off. As the cover tackle denied Jake a run to the line he expertly offloaded back inside to Alex who dived for the line and the opening try. Great move and keeping the ball alive at all costs. Myles kick from wide only just missed but Stroud had taken an early lead 5-0.

Cinderford kicked short again and this time Laurie took the punishing contact. Jake had a powerful run with a brave tackle stopping him at full pace. Myles kept the move alive and kicked over the top and then hacked on and dived on the ball in dead ball area but just missed it as Cinderford scooped it up in the nick of time. They kicked away and JoeE had another good runback which FreddieP took deeper into the Cinderford 22 but another turnover and Cinderford breathed a sigh of relief and kicked for touch. FreddieW’s excellent throw found Freddie#2 and the backs attacked again but got isolated and were turned over. Stoner and Ryan put in big hits to keep Cinderfords big runners at bay. Stoner then won a turnover and Dougie kicked into space and Stroud just missed the pickup and score. Stroud stole the lineout though and Laurie had a punishing run but again Stroud lost the ball and Cinderford quickly got it out to their pacy backs who got upto halfway before Arthur’s trademark tackle and strip forced a knockon. Stroud’s powerful pack won the scrum and attacked left. A great move with looping backs broke into the Cinderford 22 and Arthur somehow kept himself in play and sidestepped down the line to score another great try. Those years of dance school had paid off handsomely. Another tough kick for Myles was only just missed leaving the score at 10-0.

2 minutes later it was 10-3 as Stroud switched off and lost the kickoff, and then gave away a silly penalty in front of the posts that was kicked easily.

The next phase of the game was equally shared with both teams exchanging scrums and turnovers. Big tackles from Myles and Ryan were the defensive highlights. Attacking wise Myles had a long clearance kick that he chased down and forced a Cinderford error. Alex’s eyes lit up and he went to hack the ball on but 10 years of junior football at left back for Rodboro had been a waste of players subs as his left footed hack of the rugby ball sailed straight into touch and not into the promised land of the try line. Different shaped ball he claimed later but it was still white and bouncy in the match reporters eye’s so no excuse. Then he claimed Fromehall mud on his boots….so his Dad made him clean his boots at home as punishment and not have that excuse next week…

Cinderford won their lineout but were held up in a maul so Stroud had a scrum restart and Darion now at #8 picked the ball well and had a good run. Cinderford again won the breakdown battle and stole the ball to give Keyan a chance to run back at his old teammates. Everyone was so happy to see him back at Fromehall so ran over to give him a welcome-back hug. 15 Stroud players won the maul and Keyan was left gasping for breath. Now that’s a “Stroud squeeze” mid-match and not just a pre-game fire-up chant.

Stroud won the scrum with another excellent hook from FreddieW, helped by the extra power that Jedd had brought to the 2nd row. The backs quickly moved left with another looping move. Myles and Alex combined well into the 22. Ryan and Stoner leading the clearouts gave Dougie space to drive closer to the line but again Cinderford stole the ball and had to kick it away. Again JoeE was well positioned to bring the ball back with his customary powerful running. A lovely offload inside to Alex and Stroud were back into the 22 in a flash. Cinderford though won a penalty and gratefully kicked for touch and had escaped the first half only 1 score down.

Half Time: Stroud Colts 10 – 3 Cinderford Colts

Fresh legs were rotated on for Stroud and Lewis was back at #9 after an injury enforced early exit from 1st half.

Myles excellent hanging kickoff was expertly taken by the leaping FreddieP to setup an attacking move. The backs went right and won a penalty. The kick missed touch and Cinderford kicked it straight back. Dougie kicked it back diagonally and Jonty fought hard to win the ball in the 22. JoeM and Jedd smashed through the defensive line to draw in the tacklers. Lewis with another perfect pass set the backs off to the right and Arthur had another strong run. Back to Laurie and the ball came left eventually back to Jonty who cut back inside with great vision but Cinderford defended it well and won another turnover and clearance kick to halfway. Stoners throw found sure handed Laurie and the backs had another attacking platform. Myles kicked diagonally and Cinderford kicked it back. Sure handed Alex caught it and ran it back, a kick over the top put Cinderford under pressure on their own line. They went for the clearance kick but Laurie charged it down and was quick enough to react and dive on the ball and score Stroud’s third try. Another tough kick from wide was nailed by Myles and Stroud had a cushion at 17-3.

Cinderford were still in the game. The score didn’t show how close the game was. Stroud needed to stay focused. JoeM, Mr T, Laurie and Jake had big runs. Jonty was quick in the kick chase and forcing errors in the Cinderford back 3. Ryan and Stoner were enjoying the combat – both with pounding runs and crunching tackles. No one wanted to back down in the Battle of the Shire. Cinderford kicked long again but Alex had read it well and ran it back. With only 1 defender to beat and a well positioned winger in support the ball leaked forward – about 5 metres by the match reporters bad eyesight. So 12 years of Stroud Rugby subs had also been wasted and he still hadn’t learnt to throw the ball backwards. Football and Rugby skills in decay there was only 1 sport left for him to shine at. Cricket. With his surehanded catching skills he would be a shoe in to the England Test squad once they returned from Australia in disgrace.

Cinderford won their scrum but were still going backwards. Stroud counter-rucked well and Mr T picked up the ball and went left. He improvised with a basketball pass out to Jake who had a powerful handoff and run down the left wing and scored in the corner. Myles was used to the wide kicks and aced another one to the applause of the crowd. 24-3 to Stroud. Another bonus point league win exclaimed the match reporter but Jane was quick to put him back in his box and declare another friendly – and league action starts next week.

Stroud were controlling the game now in all phases as confidence grew. More big runs from FreddieP and Mr T in the backs and Jonty and Dougie in the backs. Lewis went off for another well earnt break and Jonty moved into #9 and soon was showing his sniping runs into the 22. The forwards took over and crept closer to the line. Somehow Cinderford kept them out and cleared to the 22. Another Stroud lineout win from Laurie and another driving maul upto the line but again Cinderford showed great skill and pride to defend their line for all its worth. It was all in vain though as Stroud didn’t panic and JoeM fond a chink in the armour and dived through the gap to score. Myles was this time just wide with his kick with the score at 29-3.

Callum took the kickoff well and had a good run back. Myles kicked diagonally but Cinderford countered well into the Stroud 22 and were not going quietly. The Foresters attacked left and quick pressure from Arthur forced a bad pass that he then hacked upto halfway. A penalty error from Stroud gave Cinderford an attacking lineout on the Stroud 22 that they won and drove upto the Stroud line. As a forwards try looked imminent Cinderford showed great vision to quickly get the ball out through their backs and score in the left corner for a well deserved try. Kick missed at 29-8.

Stroud kicked off and Ryan knocked the kick returner into next week. Stroud took over and big runs from Mr T and Myles softened up the defense. Jake then made another 20 metres with a damaging run. Almost as damaging as the wild boars that the Foresters must have practiced against as their defensive work was outstanding all game against all sized targets! Lucas was on and enjoying the attention from the big crowd. Unfortunately for comedy value he had managed to lose the loud warmup shirt and was wearing a team shirt. He took a great line and pummelled his opposing number. Just like Kier Starmer plans to do to Boris this week….

Cinderford like Boris needed to release the pressure…..so kicked the political ball away……as far as Stoner who bravely dived on the grenade and stopped it from going off. Stoner then turned defense into attack with another good run that was wasted as the ball went forward at the next pass. Cinderford won the scrum in their own 22 and kicked deep….to the cricketer from Stroud who doesn’t drop the ball…. Alex took the ball low and went left with Arthur in good support. Another well timed pass went out to Jake and he accelerated down the line, handed off the winger, and avoided the last gasp tackle as he dived for the line and the best try of the game….and there was a lot of competition in this department. Myles walked up knowing his team mates must have had a bet to not run anything under the posts today. Another difficult kick was only just missed but Stroud were now 34-8 to the good.

Still Cinderford wouldn’t go quietly. To their credit they came back as if it was the start of the game and 0-0. Ryan and FreddieW were putting in big tackles to slow them down. FreddieP was still stealing the lineout throws and the Stroud defensive work was outstanding. Cinderford went to kick again but the ball was charged down and Darion recovered it and ran it back well but Stroud were penalised at the next breakdown. Cinderford kicked to the Stroud 22 and won their lineout well and drove to the line. Stroud’s resolve strengthened so Cinderford went out to their backs and their inventive running lines. Callum somehow stopped them on the line and got a game ending injury for his efforts – but walked off knowing he’d done his job. Still Cinderford attacked the try line from the restart and tried every move in the book but Stroud were still determined to keep them out. Eventually after 2 minutes of bruising encounters the pile of bodies stacked up under the posts and Cinderford saw their chance and got the ball out to the far right and their winger scored another well deserved try in the corner. Seeing another wide conversion kick Myles volunteered to take it as his body was tuned all game to take near impossible conversion kicks. Cinderford instead tried it themselves and missed the kick as the whole Stroud team tried to run down the kick in a demonstration of the total team effort it had taken to play the game as well as they did.

Full Time: Stroud Colts 34 – 13 Cinderford Colts

Tunnels and debriefs. Good camaraderie between the teams as always – special attention as players chatted with Keyan and reminded him this is one of the few times he will have lost on the Fromehall pitch so quite an unusual experience for him.

The score looked big but it didn’t show how close the game was. Cinderford had been competitive all game but just came up against a Stroud team that played well in all phases and made very few errors. Lets hope we can kick on from this fantastic result and go into the League season starting next week with absolute confidence in our skills – offensive and defensive – and the strength in depth of the team…..plus other players still to return from injury or other commitments.

The players went and got changed. Lucas devoured 3 kg of garlic bread to prepare another layer of “soak up food” before returning to London tonight for another Boris party. He’d trashed his party shirt in warmups so was adapting and wearing his muddy Stroud match top. Showing an eye for fashion his trench coat was covering up his muddy outfit and he thought he looked the “bees-knees”. If we suddenly see Lucas on TV leading the Covid briefings or on PMQ’s we know he’s charmed his way into the hearts of the Tory MP’s and taken over the Tory party and confused the blue of Stroud for the Blue of Toryism.

Thanks to the catering staff for another round of food to replenish the aching limbs and refuel the Stroud engine ready for next week. Thanks to the ref for coming out-of-County and keeping a highly combative game of rugby flowing well and making it a real spectacle.