Despite suffering some key changes due to holiday commitments, Monmouth advanced their league record to three wins in succession by beating Crumlin at home 20-10 last Saturday.

Once again their pack proved the cornerstone, but this time the threequarter defence was far more robust than in the Cup last week, and none more-so than former captain, Andrew Davies playing at scrum-half.

Monmouth chose to play into the sun and what wind there was, to be sure of playing into their favourite corner in the second half, but did not properly switch on until Crumlin opened the scoring after 15 minutes with a converted try from a driving maul over some 22 yards.

Fortuitously Crumlin strayed offside after 20 minutes with Croudace kicking the penalty goal, but the visitors were able to swiftly reply when a Monmouth forward was penalised for diving on the ball. It was to take a further 20 minutes during which play ebbed and flowed, for honours to be made more even, when Croudace landed another three points to bring the score to 6-10 at half-time.

Both sides knew that there was still an equal chance of winning, with the result that the first 25 minutes of the second half brought no score but many changes of territorial advantage. Play was regularly punctuated by the referee's whistle to the considerable frustration of a crowd baking in the sunshine, before Croudace was able to edge the home team nearer with another well taken distant penalty.

But it took a stroke of genius in the thirtieth minute from an 'old-timer' to turn the game Monmouth's way. Well within his own half, stand-in centre John Jeffs, in a set piece move replicated straight from the training field, set off on the diagonal, and no more than ten seconds later had glided around sixty yards untouched to score in the left hand corner. Magic indeed that would have been made exemplary if Croudace's kick from the touch-line had not hit the post high up, but the score was now 14-10 and something demanding determined defence.

But the referee was to play a big part in things. First, second row Powell was sin-binned for obstructing the game from offside, but despite being down to a seven man pack, the visitors were consistently pushed back in the scrums. And second, their eagerness to redress the balance led to another penalty by Croudace from well out on the right hand side.

At 17-10 the pressure showed as the visitors fouled an attacking player under their own posts in desperation, only to see another penalty stroked between the uprights for a final score of 20-10 and more league points in the bag for Monmouth.

Next week sees a further stern test at home against Ynysddu, kick-off 2.30p.m.