Stortford got off to a cracking start, with a lightening break out of defence after only 4 minutes, Johnny Neville offloading out of the tackle to Nick Hankin, cutting in off his wing to burst through the first line of defence and place a perfect chip over the fullback's head. The winger looked certain to win the race for a touchdown, but was pulled back by the home side's speedy No 6, who was yellow carded and the visitors had to settle for 3 points by Tom Banks. With Cinderford appearing to know Stortford's lineout calls better than they did, they were struggling in this area of the game and, with the referee finding repeated fault with their scrummaging too, life became hard for the visitors against a strong and aggressive pack. The home side's tails were lifted, when they took the lead 8 minutes into the game,when another Stortford lineout was lost on their own 22 and unusually lax defence allowed the home flyhalf to dummy and make an initial break, before a short pass put his centre clear to the posts for a converted try. Stortford were struggling to get their hands on the ball for any period of time and, after 23 minutes found themselves a further 5 points behind, when a cruel bounce from a Tom Coleman crosskick eluded two Stortford chasers, leaving little cover, as the ball hopped nicely into a pair of Cinderford hands and a couple of strightforward passes saw them touching down out wide. Yet another poor lineout on their own 22 after 33 minutes led quickly to a penalty concession by Stortford, and the 3 points stretched Cinderford's ;ead to 12 points. The visitors were now stung into more concerted action, resulting in some considerable pressure on the Cinderford line and a yellow card for the Cinderford left wing, but two or three crucial mistakes denied them a score until the final minute of the half. Ironically, the breakthrough came after a second turnover concession in quick succession by Stortford had given the home side an outstanding chance to break out of their own 22 and possibly even register a 3rd try, with 5 or 6 players lined up on the outside and only James Apperley in front of them. Showing remarkably good timing, the second row sprinted in from wide out and leapt high to intercept a long pass with his fingertips and, stumbling, as he broke the first tackle, found Johnny Neville in close support and the centre was able - thanks to his own long reach - just to make the line to give Banks an easy conversion and send his side in at half time with a deficit of only 5 points. This was truly a match-turning score.

Stortford started the second period like a team transformed and, winning a good turnover with a strong counter ruck at the first breakdown from the restart, then went through several phases of great interpassing between forwards and backs to eventually prise an opening for Neville to get his second try. Banks' conversion attempt from out wide, unfortunately bounced back off an upright. The visitors seemed to be right on top now and looked for all the world to have scored another try out wide through prop, Rory Young, after the Cinderford defence was stretched to breaking point, but the touchdown was disallowed and a scrum awarded to Cinderford. The home side fought back, but Stortford still had a clear edge in the backs and only a couple of crucial errors prevented another score until the 24th minute, when quick hands found Rory Banks out on the right wing, who committed the winger by stepping in and giving a perfectly timed short pass to Nick Hankin, who shot through the narrowest of gaps on the outside to outstrip the whole Cinderford defence and touch down under the posts. This gave Tom Banks another easy 2 points and his side a 7 point lead. The home side refused to buckle, however and launched a series of ferocious assaults on the Stortford line, particularly through their forwards and it took some fantastically committed defence to hold them out over a period of several minutes. Even when this storm had been weathered, the home side continued to apply pressure in all areas of the field, preventing Stortford from closing the game down and testing the nerves of the travelling supporters to the end.

This was a hard-earned away win against a tough side, whose pack will give many sides a hard time, but with so many areas of the game that could have been improved on, there will be no complacency at all in the Stortford squad ahead of next week's visit from an Elthamians side much reinforced since last season.

A big win for the Blues - also at Cinderford - added to the joy of Stortford's travelling supporters and news that the 3rds, 4ths and 5ths had all won capped an excellent day for the Club. Notable among those wins was a win for the 3s against Ampthill, who inflicted a heavy defeat last season and the 5s winning their first Merit Table match for several seasons. Congratulations to all concerned!