Hull Ionians suffered a disappointing 32-19 defeat at the hands of Cinderford as their pack endured a miserable afternoon in Gloucestershire. So often Ionians play has been built around solid forward play but as set-pieces continually faltered the home side’s front eight took the initiative to drive their side to a deserved victory.

Hull Ionians dominated the opening exchanges and as early as the second minute patient play through the phases saw them camped in Cinderford’s quarter but when they drew the defence in an overlap was created but winger Sam Wilson didn’t receive the final pass and the chance was missed. Thankfully though Ionians didn’t have to wait long for the breakthrough as again tidy ball retention made steady ground towards the line and when Isaac Green was stopped just short Danny Paul picked up from the back of the ruck to burrow his way through two tacklers for the try.

That though was as good as it got for the away side as their lineout’s started to malfunction leading to indiscipline and although Cinderford missed the chance to close the gap when stand-off Angus Bower pulled a simple penalty wide, another penalty on 17 minutes saw them kick to the corner and from the resulting lineout play a short ball saw lock Jerry Sexton power through tackles from close range to score. Bower added the simple conversion.

By now Hull Ionians’ scrum was under extreme pressure and as the penalty count started to mount Bower increased Cinderford's lead with a simple penalty shot in front of the sticks. Ionians didn’t heed the warning though and another penalty at the scrum saw Cinderford again kick for the corner and from the resulting maul Dave Laverick was sin-binned as the referee lost patience with the away sides indiscipline. This in turn led to another lineout which was driven powerfully for hooker Chris Bundy to claim the touchdown on 35 minutes and Cinderford held a 15-5 lead at the break.

Hull Ionians looked to start the second half on the front foot but naive play in trying to run the ball from their own quarter saw them penalised for holding on in the tackle and from the resulting lineout Cinderford’s forwards again had too much power and this time Benjamin White was on hand to plough through the tackles to score with Bower converting.

For the first time since the opening five minutes Ionians managed to gain some field position mainly built around some enterprising back play and a brilliant show and go by youngster Ben Winterburn left the home sides defence in his wake and when his route to the line was cut off he timed a perfect pass to full back Keane Naylor to race in by the posts. Isaac Green converted to reduce the arrears to 22-12 on 50 minutes.

Although Ionians’ backs where now having the upper hand the forwards continued to toil meaning they couldn’t exert any significant pressure on the home side and continued indiscipline saw them marched back towards their own line and again from a lineout Cinderford patiently worked the ball from left to right creating the gap for winger Nev Codlin to go over in the corner on the hour mark. Bower added the touchline conversion.

For the next five minutes Ionians enjoyed a continued spell of possession and from a five metre scrum an excellent move saw right winger Steve Slingsby come off his wing to feed Sam Wilson with a long pass and although he still had plenty to do he manage to wriggle through the defence to score. James Ferguson added the conversion from the touchline and the gap was closed to 29-19 with 15 minutes remaining.

Ionians' chance of leaving with a couple of bonus points disappeared when Mark Wigham saw yellow for foul play allowing Cinderford to patiently play out the final ten minutes through their forwards and further indiscipline from the away side saw Bower close out the match with a simple penalty goal to leave Ionians licking their wounds ahead of the visit of Henley Hawks on Saturday.