Cinderford 15 Mowden Park 14

Apr 27 2008 Sunday Sun

MOWDEN went agonisingly close to joining Tynedale in earning promotion to National Two in yesterday’s play-off in Gloucestershire.

Once they had the gap down to one point with 20 minutes left they attacked from everywhere and almost scored when centre James Clarke was pulled down a yard short after a great run.

“We’re all gutted,” said Mowden Park backs coach Kevan Oliphant.

“The players worked their backsides off and we played all the rugby.

“Cinderford were totally forward-orientated with their rolling mauls and pick-and-drives. We made a few mistakes, but we couldn’t have asked for any more from the players.

“We also appreciate the support we had. There were about 200 of our fans in a crowd of 1500.”

Mowden went 7-0 up after four minutes when scrum half Andy Foreman broke away on the blind side of a ruck 20 metres out. No-one laid a hand on him as he narrowed the angle for fly half Jon Benson to convert.

Cinderford replied with a catch-and-drive try then repeated it following a penalty to the corner after Mowden prop Dan Miller was harshly sin-binned after 34 minutes.

It proved costly as, while Mowden were still down to 14 men, Cinderford scored again from a series of pick-and-drives.

After deciding to avoid line-outs as much as possible, Mowden attacked throughout the second half. Benson took a knock on the head for the second successive week and was replaced after 50 minutes by Charlie Rayner.

Mowden scored midway through the half when Clark broke away from a tackle on halfway and raced over, with Rayner adding the conversion.

“We’ve had a chat and everyone is committed to staying with the club and winning National Three North next season,” said Oliphant.