New year, more of the same for Cinderford Rugby Club.

That’s the hope for director of rugby Paul Morris and everyone connected with the upwardly mobile Forest of Dean club, as they resume their National Two South campaign at home to Henley on Saturday.

A stunning first half of the campaign saw them win 15 of their 16 opening games – the only blemish coming against table-topping Chinnor in early October – and they are hot on the heels of the unbeaten South Oxfordshire club.

The smart money is on the race for top spot being between these two teams – they are separated by one point – although only the champions are guaranteed a place in National One next season.

The runners-up will play the second-placed team in National Two North for the final promotion spot, with home advantage going to the club with the better record over the marathon 30-game campaign.

Not that Morris is looking that far ahead. After a week off between Christmas and new year, the players were back in training last night and the focus is very much on Henley on Saturday.

The Oxfordshire club were narrowly beaten 33-28 by Chinnor two days before Christmas, and Morris expects a much sterner test than when Cinderford travelled east at the start of the campaign and served notice that they would be a force to be reckoned with in 2017/18, when they walloped them 90-17.

And one thing is for sure, there will be no room for complacency in the Cinderford camp against opponents who, despite that hammering, have been in the top six for much of the season.

“If I was a Henley player I’d be looking for redemption on Saturday,” said Morris. “I’d want to show that I was much better than that and that it won’t happen again.”

That win was one of nine bonus-point victories that Cinderford have enjoyed on the road so far this season, and Morris is delighted for everyone connected with the club.

“We’re very happy with where we are,” he said. “We’ve worked very hard and we’ve been well rewarded with our position in the table.

“We’ve got a lot of faith in the depth of our squad. We run a very active United side and we’ve got a lot of good players who are not playing regular first-team rugby.”

That said, there are still plenty of opportunities to shine in the flagship team because Morris has used 36 players this season – and all but two of them have played more than once.

Most if not all will be required in the second half of a campaign which, after Saturday’s game, sees Cinderford travel to London Irish Wild Geese and then host third-placed Redingensians Rams before going head-to-head with Chinnor at Chinnor on 27th January.

Chinnor, who host lowly London Irish Wild Geese on Saturday, must travel to Redingensians a week on Saturday and Morris added: “Redingensians are a very, very good team and are very capable of beating us and Chinnor.

“There are some hard games out there and there are going to be some slip-ups. I don’t think Chinnor and ourselves will go through the rest of the season unbeaten.

“There will be setbacks but we won’t panic and we’ll keep doing the things we’ve been doing.”

That’s spot on, of course, and with the party season behind them, the players certainly had their rugby heads back on when they returned to training at Cinderford last night.

“I was enthused by their work ethic,” said Morris. “Their work rate was excellent and I liked their bloody-mindedness. There were a few scraps and the desire was there for all to see.”

It appears that normal service is about to be resumed, and that can only be good news for Cinderford’s ever-growing band of supporters. The game against Henley can’t come quickly enough for them.