The 43-8 home win over visitors Crumlin last Saturday suggests that Monmouth are now coming good after a full third of a season of promising much but achieving little.

But this week in a game of two distinctly different halves, everything clicked in the second half and Monmouth scored 40 points to nil in reply.

Monmouth as usual were slow to settle, and despite feeling that they could cope with an apparently bigger and heavier pack, they were set back in the first 30 minutes, first from a rolling maul and then a penalty, of which there were many. Casual responses by some of the forwards suggested that it was all too easy and yet they were gradually slipping behind on the scoreboard and in terms of the patience of the referee.

He relented in injury time, however, and Monmouth clawed three points back with a penalty kick by fly half Rob Frost.

Half time saw a strong but encouraging team talk from the Coach and the second half could not have been more different. The penalty transgressions all but disappeared and after eight minutes centre and captain, Andrew Davies cut through the Crumlin defence to score near the posts.

Thereafter Monmouth moved the ball along their backs with style and verve with a regularity which saw Crumlin progressively crumble. Their forwards were now feeling the strain and apart from short defensive rallies when someone was substituted, Monmouth dominated scrummage, ruck and maul and if their throwing in at the line out had been consistent they may have scored up to twenty points more.

Monmouth’s back row are now strong and destructive and have more pace than earlier in the season so that players arrive quicker at the breakdown and help to ensure the linkage to sustain moves. Even the more senior players, and there are quite a few of them, are now fitter and more mobile and the size and strength of the likes of the Powell brothers and prop Stockley provide the solidity from which one can build the necessary dominance.

Wing man Baker and Davies capitalised on the free flowing nature of the game to score two good tries each with full back Brace capping a good game with the sixth try in the third minute of injury time. All but one of the tries was converted.

Next week brings a tougher type of test with an away game at Blaina where, who knows, it may even be snowing. That would test the handling of the backs, but at least they now know how to come back from a half time deficit and finish a side off with panache!