Dings Knights vs Cinderford IIs

Knighters Knights didn’t want to lose their momentum created from their positive start to their league campaign, organising a friendly fixture against Cinderford ahead of the hotly anticipated clash next week versus Bristol Saracens quiet neighbours. “Friendly” isn’t really suitable term for two sides, both with a history between each other but an element of respect, being leading clubs within the west region. Both had players looking to make a statement and put their hand up for selection for their relative 1st teams.

In recent weeks, strong performances in the Knights have led to the likes of Lewis O’Grady, Harry Rowson and Ollie Smith earning a chance with the 1st Team and with this strong competition, gave the chance for Jamie “Lemon Juice” Elswood, Jamel Hamilton and Sol Taufa to light up and entertain the crowd that couldn’t be arsed to go north of the m4 to Birmingham.

Writing as a back and through gritted teeth, the saying “Forwards win the match, the backs decide by how many” was a true reflection of the game. The dominant set piece again provided a platform for the backs to fulfil its potential and brilliantly controlled by ‘Sunshiiiiine’ Elsworth.
Dings didn’t take long to get on the scoreboard, a scrum in the 22 to the right of the posts provided Hamilton with enough space to fire a beautiful pass over the head of the winger into the hands of Max Rivers who timed his run perfectly, which is ironic for Max Rivers where timing isn’t his forte.

Another 5 were added when an ‘audible’ was called as Cinderford prepared for a kick to the corner, Elswood taping and releasing the backs before Omar Ly was tackled before the line. Mack Hill, starting for the 1st time this season, attacked the short side and sneaked in.
A superb defensive set from a rare attack from Cinderford and resulting penalty led to further territory up the field and it was another scrum that led Sol Taufa score the 1st of his hatrick. Elswood launching an attack and releasing Taufa to power over the line.

Another scrum and the likes of James Winter wanting to pay extra for being treated to such an ‘art form’. This time, Cinderfords own put in, the Dings pack forced the ball to pop up on the Dings side where Mac Hill was able to quickly react. Queries whether the amount of Vaseline on the scrum half was to regulation as he was able to slip away from 3 tacklers and finish superbly from 50m.

The dominance continued and great phase play moving the ball around the pitch released Hugo Dessiaume who evaded the defenders questionably ‘illegally’ by hurdling them, but provided a little bit of comedy as the two defenders collided, leaving him to canterunder the bull horns to give Elswood an easier nudge over.

Despite the forwards attempt to slow the game down through the use of scrums, Mack Hill kept the tempo going, another quick tap and a couple of phases allowed Max Rivers to force over to score again to take the score to 36-0 at Half Time.

Dings looked to continue their dominant performance in the 2nd half and with early pressure, looked to increase their lead further. The 2nd half was a massive contrast from the 1st as the game lacked the fluency. A break down in a promising Dings attack just outside the Cinderford 22, led to a couple of fly hacks up the pitch. Brilliant work rate and a great tackle from Louis Venn prevented the Cinderford player from crossing over the tryline, but the Cinderford player didn’t have the ball resulting in a penalty try and a 10 minute rest for Venn.
Even with a player short, Dings were next to score with Taufa again showing decent strength following a quick tap close to the Cinderford line to score his 2nd of the game.

Bizarrely Cinderford added to their tally via a drop goal to make it 43-10 and an easy DotD nomination, but were allowed a little route back into the game through a little bit of poor discipline around ruck time. Joe Hawksby saw a yellow come his way, as he couldn’t direct his massive swede in the correct position when rucking. Despite decent defence and thwarting a number of attacks from Cinderford, the away side got their reward for a spell of territory, breaking through the midfield to score under the sticks.

Further ill discipline allowed Cinderford to kick to the corner to set up a driving lineout to start making the overall score a little bit more respectable.

The final score of the game another scrum in midfield, this time from a penalty option, again allowing Elswood to attack the small numbers, square up to release Taufa for his deserved hatrick.

Full Time
Dings Knights 50 Cinderford 22

A great 1st half performance and a much needed run out for players ahead of a big weekend of games for the club. The 1st XV host Blackheath whilst the 2nd Team have a long awaited fixture against Clifton 2nds in the league. Join us for a great day of rugby and an opportunity to raise funds for Breast Cancer Awareness.

Trys
Sol Taufa (3)
Max Rivers (2)
Mac Hill (2)
Dessiaume

Conversions
Elswood (5)