THERE was no fun in the sun for Rams as they were made to pay for a slow start at Cinderford with the hosts mauling their way to a 38-17 victory at Dockham Road.
On a glorious afternoon, the home side came flying out of the traps and took an early lead when hooker Nathan Taylor grabbed the first of his four tries, touching down at the back of a powerful rolling maul.
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Reece Boughton landed an excellent conversion from the left, and the fly-half repeated the trick from the other side of the field after Taylor doubled his tally with a carbon-copy of his first score.
With the wind at their backs, the Foresters extended their advantage even further when they grabbed another score from close range.
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On this occasion Rams were able to halt the maul, but Cindy hammered away with a series of pick-and-goes before prop Tim Brockett burrowed over.
Another Boughton conversion made it 21-0 at the end of the first quarter, but the visitors got themselves on the scoreboard when scrum-half Ollie Cole darted over from five metres out after skipper Robbie Stapley had controlled the ball superbly from the base of an attacking scrum.
Drew Humberstone added the extras and Rams had a couple of chances to further cut the deficit before the break, but it was the home side who landed a sucker punch on the brink of half-time when Taylor completed his hat-trick, again from the maul after Paul Englezos had been yellow carded.
Boughton’s kick made it 28-7, but the visitors landed the first blow of the second half when a remarkable through-the-legs pass from hooker Ben Henderson enabled Ollie Taylor to cross on the right.
Yet Cinderford went back to the set-piece, and after Connor Stapley became the second Ram to be sin-binned, the hosts’ Taylor chalked up his fourth before Boughton converted for 35-12.
However, Rams remained in contention when they got their own maul going, Henderson crossing at the back of a maul to reduce the gap to 18 points.
A Boughton penalty pushed the lead back to 38-17, but the away side kept coming and were given further encouragement when replacement Aaron Ryan was sent to the sin-bin after accidentally making contact with the head of Vince Everitt at a ruck.
A couple of chances were frittered away by the visitors as they hunted a try bonus-point, but they were unable to secure it despite Connor Hayhow touching down on the left with the final play of the game, the centre ruled to have put his foot in touch en route to the line.
By Richard Ashton
