CHINNOR dug deep to claim an impressive 31-23 victory at Cinderford and move up to fourth in National League 1.

The Oxfordshire side recorded back-to-back bonus point wins as they earned their first success on the road since the opening day.

Trailing 6-0 after two James Butler penalties, Chinnor took the lead against the run of play on 17 minutes when Caolan Ryan broke clear and sent Josh Hodson racing over, Laurence May adding the extras.

But Cinderford deservedly went 18-7 in front, thanks to tries from Nathan Taylor and Sam Smith, Butler converting the latter.

Chinnor reduced the arrears to six points at half-time, though, when Will Harries dived over for an unconverted score.

The visitors improved after the break and opened up a 24-18 lead after 57 minutes, thanks to tries from Hodson and Luc Jeannot, May converting the first.

Cinderford piled on the pressure and James Dean was driven over but, crucially, Stefan Hawley dragged his conversion attempt wide as Chinnor still led 24-23 with five minutes to go.

The Oxfordshire side then set about killing the game off.

Will Flinn’s try extended their lead to eight points, before they expertly saw out the final minutes.

HENLEY Hawks threw away victory when Redruth fought back to snatch a dramatic draw in National League 2 South.

The hosts led 20-6 with just under 20 minutes remaining, but conceded two tries – both of which were converted – including a last-minute score.

Henley went ahead through a Ben Bolster penalty as conditions saw both sides struggle to gain control of the ball.

Fraser Honey drew Redruth level on 28 minutes, but Hawks’ back row gradually got on top and helped their side score the opening try seconds before

half-time.

A series of drives from the forwards saw the visitors penalised and Tom Emery finished off a driving maul for an 8-3 lead at the break.

Sam Lunnon crashed over for Henley’s second try seven minutes into the second period.

And the home side moved further clear on 55 minutes when Emery again took advantage of a driving maul to scamper over for a try which Bolster converted.

At 20-6, it looked as though Hawks would go on to win the game comfortably.

But Redruth dug in and were to spend the majority of the remaining minutes camped in the hosts’ half.

The Henley defence was excellent and kept out a number of Cornish drives.

But they eventually cracked when Bradley Janes crashed over under the posts, with Honey converting.

That left Hawks with 18 minutes to hold out, and it looked as though they had done enough with the game entering the final 90 seconds.

However, from a driving maul Richard Brown touched down, with Honey holding his nerve to convert and level the scores.