CINDERFORD will visit rugby's new corridor of power – one of the affluent motorway towns linked to London – when they play Maidenhead on Saturday.
It will be, says director of rugby Dennis Hargreaves, his team's first big test in South West One.
Satisfied and well pleased with last week's stunning opening victory over Gloucester Old Boys, Hargreaves has to make sure his team are firmly back in the realms of reality to play Maidenhead.
"They won at Matson last week and that should be warning enough. A lot of good rugby is being played in that part of the world at the moment so we will need to be at our best," he said.
Hargreaves tempers his delight at Saturday's win which followed an overwhelming second half performance, with memories of what happened in the first 40 minutes.
"Whether it was nerves because we were playing in a different league I don't know. But for some time we went from bad to worse.
"But then we put together a couple of driving mauls and scored a try before half time. After that they started to calm down and play rugby – the result was a convincing win," he said.
Hargreaves knows that to be among the top teams in his league, Cinderford will need to win at least three or four games away from home.
"That will not be easy, but that is the real test. In a sense it has not helped us winning by such a large margin – it puts other teams on their guard. Having overcome the hurdle of gaining our first home win we have to concentrate on picking up two points away from home and we have to start at Maidenhead."
Hargreaves is still building his squad and wants more strength in depth. Several top players were missing from his team on Saturday which made the victory all the more acceptable.
Peter Miles was named man of the match and enjoyed, says Hargreaves, his best game since rejoining the club. Matt Sherratt also played well, having to replace Jeremy Bennett at scrum-half.
Hargreaves was also heartened by the performance of Shaun Gibbs, the former Bream player, who was making his debut at number eight, while winger Steve Skelton won praise for a workmanlike performance.
Cinderford's tries were scored by Kerry Bourne, Pete Miles, Mark Bedney, Jamie Roberts and Paul Hudson. Mark Roberts converted the lot and also kicked two penalty goals.