Cinderford Preview

Titans return to Veritas Park from their long travels this weekend and host Cinderford. The men from the Forest of Dean mining town have made a solid start to the season with wins at home to Birmingham-Moseley and, like Taunton, away at Leeds. Formed in 1886 and playing at National League One level since promotion in 2017-18, they finished in 5th place last season, the club’s highest ever position since league rugby was introduced.

When the Gloucestershire side last visited Somerset in February, they took the spoils back up the M5 with them. The score line, 19-30, did not perhaps reflect the close nature of the contest but Cinderford showed greater mettle in taking the opportunities on offer and their free-scoring hooker Nathan Taylor bagged a brace of tries to secure the win.

Coached by Director of Rugby Paul Morris and with Clive Stuart-Smith (a former half-back partner of Tony Yapp in his Exeter Chiefs days) coaching the side, Cinderford has a stable squad, often bolstered by players on loan from the likes of Worcester Warriors and Gloucester Rugby. In recent times the likes of internationals Harry Williams (Exeter and England), Josh Adams (Worcester, Cardiff, Wales and British & Irish Lions), Freddie Burns (Leicester and England) and Sam Underhill (Bath and England) have represented Cinderford RFC.

Stuart-Smith has been pressed into action in recent weeks, notably at Leeds when fly-half Reece Broughton suffered a knee injury. At 39, he is long acquainted from junior rugby days with Taunton RFC President Gary Kingdom, and the two are surely rivals for the oldest player in the division award.

SRD will be the match sponsor for this fixture and we once again pass on our thanks to them for continuing to support our community rugby club. SRD Technology UK enable your business to work smarter. They provide enterprise level information and communication technology solutions to small and medium companies and charities up to 250 people in size. SRD Technology UK will guide you on your digital transformation journey providing a full suite of reliable and scalable managed services including IT Support, Cyber Security, Connectivity and Telephony Solutions.

Entrance to Veritas Park is £15 per adult. The legendary two-course pre-match carvery lunch can be booked by emailingfunctions@tauntonrfc.co.uk or by calling 01823 336363. Parking at Veritas Park on Hyde Lane is available and costs £5 per vehicle. Kick off is at 3pm.

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Taunton 2nd XV will also be playing at home this weekend where they take on St Bernadettes, Kick Off TBC.

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