Coventry 32 Cinderford 22
Butts Park Arena
A Daniel Rundle masterclass paved the way for a Coventry bonus-point win over a spirited Cinderford, producing three blistering tries and a man of the match performance that left the Foresters eating dust in National One.
Nic Corrigan's men were up against it after the delights of their Ealing victory at Dockham Road, which eased their relegation worries, if only temporarily.
The Foresters weren't cautious, offering something for the away crowd to savour. Three tries away from home, under the heat of the Butts Park floodlights, will go some way to embedding that confidence they are learning to thrive on.
A losing bonus point was also deserved but wasn't secured after Matthew Jones, the Coventry fly-half, nailed a penalty with the last kick of the game to cancel out a late try in the corner from Cinderford's Stefan Hawley, who looked to have sealed a lonely point on the road for Nic Corrigan's men.
This was a record afternoon for Coventry, who secured 16 wins on the bounce and bettered any run of victories from the team since the Second World War. Times have changed and this will go down as one of their best efforts in the club's 140-year history.
This defeat will be a bitter pill for Corrigan's men to swallow, who clearly wanted more. In the end, it was the class from Rundle which made the overall difference.
And his opener was a privilege to watch. The Coventry attack changed direction with Jones scooting the ball back to Rundle, who ripped through a gap begging to be filled.
It looks simple from the stands; the chip, rounding the fullback and collecting for the score.
But the way he has to shift his body and lift the ball with his in-heel and then judge the bounce - all at speed and without forethought - it was a wonderful solo try and set Coventry on their way with only three minutes on the clock.
Jones converted and Rundle would go over again soon enough but it was Cinderford who came into the ascendancy with that man James Moffat at the centre of a lot of good that came from the Foresters.
The running lines were somewhat sweeter this week - the presence of mind from the front and second rows gave Moffat ammunition to wield and, despite the early set-back, pull and push Cinderford into dangerous areas.
Sam Hanks, the double try hero against Ealing, was the man to put CInderford back in touch, jinking over from 22 metres out, shrugging off blue and white hoops as he did.
His chance came after some great awareness from his skipper Mike Wilcox again, however, who curved around the outside, created space inside for winger Nigel Baker and the platform for an assault.
Baker went off injured after Moffat converted Hanks' try but it was Wilcox's urgency that put Cinderford on the map quarter of an hour in.
Rundle cruised over again seven minutes later, latching onto a beautifully-worked interchange between the Jones chip and catch from outside-centre Callum MacBurnie.
Coventry fullback Barry Davies made things difficult for the home side for a patch after he was penalised for hands in the ruck on the Cinderford return.
Moffat converted the penalty and, moments later, following what could've have been a second blue yellow for William Hurrell for a deliberate knock-on, Forester replacement Luke Cole sneaked over from a penalty lineout to give the visitors the lead on 34 minutes.
Cinderford would have been pleased to see the half out ahead. A bonus-point defeat would have gone down well too but, considering the emphatic scenes at Dockham Road seven days before, you felt anything was possible.
And that was the case until Hurrell saw the gap just before half-time. He didn't need asking twice to fill the void and gave back Coventry's lead, marginalising the damage while Davies was in the bin.
At 21-17, Cinderford still had their noses in it until the Rundle show continued in the second half. The former Tynedale man moved south in the summer and has proven to be a great coup for Scott Morgan's Coventry.
A Jones penalty stretched the host's lead to seven but it was Rundle, the blistering wide-man, who lifted record crowds at the Butts Park Arena to its feet.
A poke through in midfield was enough to set him on his way. Fifty metres he ran, nudging the ball first before cartwheeling over for his third. Three tries and clean legs. He could not be touched.
Cinderford were chasing the game albeit did well to hold off the Coventry set-piece on their five-metre line on a handful of occasions. They were stung but not out of it altogether. A win was what they came for and soon a bonus point looked salvageable.
It could have come sooner if Hanks was quicker to offload with Cinderford boasting a two-man overlap. But it finally came through a well-crafted try. The forwards ducked and inched closer to the whitewash before the pill went through hooker Sam Wilkes' hands to send Hawley soaring over.
The bonus point looked to have been won but, unfortunately, it wasn't to be. Jones converted a penalty with the last play of the game, sending Corrigan and Co home agonising over lapses in their game and, more to the point, empty handed.
Attendance: 2,132
Man of the Match: Daniel Rundle
Referee: Gareth Holsgrove
Coventry team: Barry Davies, Daniel Runole, CallumMacBurnie, Robert Knox, William Hurrell, Matthew Jones, Wayne Evans (capt), Andrew Brown, Matthew Price, Adam Parkins, Thomas Poole, Roan van Heerden, Samuel Pailor, Luke Joseph, Jaques le Roux
Replacements: Jacob Farnworth, Ohwobend, Chad Thorne, Luke Myring, Pierre Ferre
Tries: Daniel Rundle 3, William Hurrell
Cons: Matthew Jones 3
Pens: Matthew Jones 2
Sin-bins: Barry Davies
Cinderford team: Mike Wilcox (capt), Nigel Baker, Sam Hanks, Leo Fielding, Stefan Hawley, James Moffat, Clive Stuart-Smith, Jack Cosgrove, Sam Wilkes, Jake Caufield, Roger Birkin, Edward King, George Mills, Sam Underhill, Daniel Fry
Replacements: Daniel Pointon, Luke Cole, Jack Adams, Marcus Brown, Elliot Booley
Tries: Sam Hanks, Luke Cole, Stefan Hawley
Cons: James Moffat 2
Pens: James Moffat 1
