A friendly away against Bream last Saturday offered a rest from league pressures and a chance for the Monmouth side to put its training into practice, but they had not allowed for the truly bitter and strong cross-wind and a very unsympathetic demonstration of refereeing. Whether this was because the referee was being assessed or because it was long overdue was unclear, but he certainly appeared to have little sympathy for his Welsh visitors style of play. Luckily the Bream kicker had little good fortune with the boot which kept the game score-less for much of the first half.

In fact the weather and the referee’s whistle were the key determinants during the first thirty minutes while Monmouth struggled to put their normal game together. Despite the dominant Monmouth scrimmaging, Bream fought tigerishly to prevent any clear Monmouth advantage accruing. The home team’s line-out was better on balanceand with the handling errors and loose balls often ending up in touch they kept Monmouth out until Jody Roberts, making his 1st XV debut, ran round the defence to score the first try of the game which Forrest converted.

Injury time, due partly to Campbell having to leave the field with a fractured nose, brought a few extra minutes to the very frustrating half during which Bream clawed back three points with an easy penalty goal for a 7-3 interval score.

Plans by the visitors to play running rugby in the second half came to fruition after only five minutes when another newcomer, Gareth Jones, rounded off a move involving many players deep into the right hand Bream corner, by diving over as the Bream defence closed on him for his first 1st XV try. This time the angle and the wind proved too much for fly-half Forrest.

After another seven minutes centre Dawie Venter threw his customary dummy to foot-fault the defence, leaving but the execution of a neat side-step to score a stylish converted try under the posts.

Left wing Ben Smith was next to score a rare try (for him that is), after a solo run of some 20plus metres during which he had to break a sequence of tackles. The joy the score brought him led spectators to hear distinct chuckles floating on the wind more than 40 yards distant!

Kristian Williams and Matt King were the other new boys in the team and it was the latter who achieved the final score with a sparkling try which went unconverted.

The remaining ten minutes before the final whistle saw too many people trying to go it alone or making basic errors in the arctic conditions, but this is not to belittle the sterling performances of Hoggins, Taylor and Venter who were the pick of the bunch on a day that most would wish to forget despite the convincing 29-3 victory.

Next Saturday sees St Peters of Cardiff at the Sports Ground at 2.30pm, when Monmouth will be tilting for their third place league position and a reversal of the r opening league game of the season.