Like a team which was looking forward to the season and not the end of it, Monmouth played in fits and starts with great determination but not a lot of co-ordination, when they lost away by 34-10 points to Bedlinog last Saturday.

True the bus journey delayed the start and the referee was not in the mood to forgive them for that, with the result that virtually every fifty-fifty decision seemed to go to the home team, but Monmouth played as individuals against a well drilled and driving pack.

On the rare occasions when Monmouth won the ball in the first half Croudace at half back contrived to choose any option but the one that would have put the ball in the hands of Venter, who at least seemed capable of putting Bedlinog's defence under pressure. Instead he had to rely on running defensive ball back from deep.

It is not surprising therefore that Monmouth's only try came from the burrowing of back row man Stacey Edwards and that after a full sixty minutes of play, when the game was almost beyond Monmouth. It certainly was when Bedlinog scored their fourth try of the game which their fly-half 'man of the match' converted.

Despite an accompanying blustery wind, the recently rain softened ground was welcomed by all those grazed elbows and knees for what they knew would be a tough game. Bedlinog matches are always like that, with their well drilled and strong set of forwards keen to exploit their driving maul skills, and this time they were determined to seal third spot in the league to boot.

Despite Monmouth having the first chance to score when Croudace missed the penalty kick, alarm bells were soon ringing because Monmouth seemed incapable of responding to the determined drives from lines-out, compounded by confused and sometimes weak defence in the Monmouth centre.

Inside fifteen minutes Bedlinog had put twelve points on the board to generate even more touch line refereeing from their staunch supporters, not that the referee needed encouragement in the art of perverse interpretations of the laws from others on this occasion. But referees have a hard role to play and there would be no game without them. Monmouth should know by now not to let things like that to distract them form the need to win.

Thanks to one successful penalty kick by Croudace, Monmouth were still in with a chance at half-time at 17-3, but Bedlinog came out the more determined for the second period, adding a further ten points inside the first ten minutes. But to Monmouth's credit they did not give up, and the backs began to run at the Bedlinog defence with more determination, if often naively. The forwards were also embarrassed for their lack of progress and on the sixtieth minute they for once had Bedlinog at sixes and sevens on their own line and Edwards was to claim the points with Croudace converting.

Spirits lifted as Bedlinog dug in but it took a clear tackle of Brace in the air with an award of a scrum against him for a knock-on, followed by a Bedlinog burst for the line which Number 8 Phillips snuffed out from behind in front of the posts only to find a penalty try awarded against him for a 'high tackle'. This final seven points killed Monmouth off despite the three substitutions the coach made. There were many individual performances worthy of note, but the necessary co-ordination was lacking, but it was at least encouraging to see former captain Harvey Morgan displaying his line-out agility once again despite his operation. A good omen for the coming season or just the tour to Prague this coming weekend, one wonders?

Crumlin continue to frustrate the Fixture Secretaries' attempts to agree a date for the many times postponed fixture, but at least we have until 18 May to play out our games, and then we might as well start training for the new season then, or are we just becoming a little cynical about things?