Whilst the tour to Prague was undoubtedly a great success both off the field and on it, with all five games won, Crumlin brought Monmouth back down to earth last Saturday by beating them away 16-12.

Recognised for solid uncompromising forward play Crumlin predictably stuck at their strengths, but Monmouth with greater pace and trickery in their backs were heartened early on, despite falling 3-0 behind to a penalty in front of the posts for an offside decision after only five minutes, by the way in which their backs carved the way through the centre to gain large swathes of territory.

And it was not long before full back Brace rounded off such a move in the left hand corner to take the lead. The kick failed but only just.

But Monmouth were not at their best and although they knew the way they needed to play, a mixture of wrong choices of option by the half backs and regular handling errors, allowed Crumlin to retain and control possession to grind their way towards the line. Within only another five minutes, they had regained the lead through a driving maul over the line for an 8-5 lead. This, they retained for the remaining twenty minutes of the first half and quarter of an hour into the second, when their confidence grew along with Monmouth's frailty, finishing off a wide attacking move on the right, aided by several missed tackle by players who excelled on tour but now admitted they "felt jaded".

Obviously five hard games in Czechoslovakia had taken their toll or was it the incredibly priced continental lager that had a longer than expected sapping effect?

Fortunately pangs of conscience at their lacklustre performance, or just good old fashioned pride, brought a long-awaited rally and play began to pick up.

Within ten minutes Monmouth had almost scored a penalty try in the left hand corner, but the referee was not so bold and from another surge, centre Gareth Morgan had spotted a gap which he crashed through for a try which Brace was to convert.

With the score now at 13-12, Monmouth piled on the pressure whilst the more seasoned Crumlin forwards did everything to slow down the game. Monmouth rushed their opponents 22 to be awarded a penalty, but with their blood rising they kept running the ball until the advantage was gained but no score. Where was the cool head to make them claim the kick which would have gained a lead of 13-15 with fifteen minutes to go?

Instead there were frantic solo efforts by Monmouth and even more concerted efforts by Crumlin to slow things down. Venter at centre made several galloping deceptive runs down the middle only to end up without support, and when Crumlin scored another penalty on 80 minutes, Johnny Powell ran a full fifty yards from his own line without a hand laid upon him in a belated attempt to redress the balance.

But it was not to be and now Monmouth need to win away at Fairwater next week to ensure they at least retain a mid-table position as reward for all the promise they have shown, if not quite the results that they might have expected.