Monmouth RFC - Another Win to Celebrate

Monmouth have started the season well and now have another win to celebrate, scoring 20-5 pts at home against St Joseph's of Cardiff's in this Precision Engineering sponsored SWALEC league match.

Within three minutes of the start the referee blew for the first of many penalties at a ruck which Monmouth's fly-half Dave Croudace was to miss, despite good kicking conditions, but he and his opposite number were to miss several more. The game was distractingly punctuated by the whistle for much of the first half as the referee tried to get both teams playing an open and fast game.

In a lively first half St Joseph's had much possession but were unable to utilise it well, due to stoppages but more particularly due to solid defence by the home team who showed good mobility throughout, whilst their visitors became more ragged towards the end.

Customary as it is for a ‘man of the match' to be chosen, on this occasion captain John Powell decided all three front row forwards deserved it jointly for their solid scrummaging as well as their vigour about the field. But for his own modesty it might have been awarded to the whole front five who dominated their opponents at least in the scrums.

Flanker Ollie Gray, too, might have received the accolade for his being everywhere in the loose save for the yellow card he received rather harshly for handling the ball whilst off his feet when in fact he had been bundled over by one of his supporting colleagues.

25 minutes of to and fro play culminated in a sweet passage of play. Scrum-half Gareth Morgan took a quick penalty with his usual dash, and following several supporting drives form the pack, he was able to pop up a pass when tackled to the ever present Gray who scored virtually untouched under the posts. Croudace added the extra points.

The loss of a forward for ten minutes near the end of the first half allowed St Joseph's back into the game but Monmouth survived the drawback as well as a harsh decision earlier that would have put winger Tom Baker clean through but for it being adjudged ‘obstruction'.

The second half was far better disciplined it seemed with fewer stoppages as a result and the screw was further turned when, on five minutes, Monmouth used their superior forward power to gain a push-over try by No. 8 Joel Price.

Croudace missed the conversion and St Joseph's rallied, bouncing straight back with their best passage of play in the whole game. The ball was recycled again and again with sustained drives and, but for a stoppage for a nasty clash of two Monmouth heads, and despite stubborn Monmouth defence, the visiting fly-half was eventually to stretch through tackles on the line to dab the ball down.

Despite missing the conversion, soon after, Monmouth were awarded a penalty for pulling down a maul and Croudace stretched the lead to 15-5 with a good kick.

The highlight was yet to come though... After several expansive moves which put St Joseph's on the back foot right wing Matt King carried on yet another of these attacks, chip-kicking over his opponent only to recover the ball and slip it quickly to the supporting second-row substitute Andrew Scourfield who sealed the game 20-5 with his try.

In the fourth minute of injury time Monmouth all but gained a bonus point for yet another try after strong play by the pack but the ball was stolen in a ruck on the visitor's line and a good contest was over with the local team looking forward eagerly to their away game next week against Chepstow.