Caldy 31 - 35 Cinderford

THE old phrase of a game of two halves was true at Paton Field in the first league meeting between Caldy and Cinderford.

The team from Gloucestershire was victorious after Caldy let a 31-5 half-time lead slip to lose their second home match in a week to the disappointment of the fans, players and coaches.

Caldy had the wind and played better in the first half, keeping Cinderford in their final third of the pitch with the visitors doing well in the opening minutes of the game stopping winger Nick Royle as he was about to finish off a fine passing move, however from the resulting lineout a good move saw Nyle Davidson cross for the opening try of the afternoon.

Caldy pressurised again from the kick off and good handling from Ben Jones split the defence, got the ball to Royle who wasn't going to be denied on this occasion.

Within seconds of the restart the Cinderford defence were unable to stop Jones who ran in for a second try within as many minutes and Caldy's third of the afternoon, it looked as though the disappointment of last week's defeat was well and truly out of their system.

That was highlighted when Royle ran in for his second try of the afternoon securing a bonus point, however two minutes later Caldy's defence was caught napping allowing Sam Smith to run in to score in Cinderford's only attack of the half in what turned out to be a turning point in the game.

Cinderford came out firing in the second half with captain George Porter scoring to reduce the lead within four minutes of the restart, which gave the team belief.

With the wind on their side they could cause an upset.

Cinderford played the tactical game well and it was their half-time substitute Nathan Taylor who finished a fabulous move to score another for the visitors after which saw them lifted and the home side demoralised and not able to get back in their stride.

From another poor lineout Cinderford were in again, this time it was replacement Tom Heard who took the plaudits from the visiting supporters just after the hour to start a seven minute try blitz from the visitors with Arron Ryan levelling the score followed by George Boulton on 70 minutes scoring the winning try leaving the home side in a state of shock.

Next week Caldy have a rest week before travelling to Bishops Stortford a week on Saturday.