Monmouth entertained Blaenavon RFC at the Sports Ground last Saturday and in beating them 38-0in a game kindly sponsored by Shire Conservatories, showed by the closing stages what a class act they are becoming. Playing up the slope in the first half as they prefer, but into a strong wind, within a mere five minutes, they had outpaced and stretched the visitors’ defence, and left wing Tom Baker shown the outside by the opposing full-back needed no encouragement, going over untouched for the first, and unconverted, of his four thrilling tries during the game. After such a good opening, the game then declined for quite some time with scrappy play on both sides. True the grass was greasy following a decidedly sharp shower at kick-off and the wind was blowing strongly from the south-west, but the handling and decision making was poor presumably as a result of eagerness ruling things rather than the structured building of platforms to feed the backs who were looking extremely lively as individuals and as a unit right from the off. Play was often taken deep into the Monmouth territory by raking kicks from the Blaenavon fly-half but full back Matt King and right wing Dave Brace regularly brought the game back to halfway and further by elusive and strong running. The scrummages were going Monmouth’s way as were the lines-out but despite the vigour of the rucking nothing had really clicked by the end of the first half. But with the wind and hopefully a weakening of the visiting side as a result of Monmouth putting their passes together and runnig their opponents around, victory already looked assured. And so it ensued. Ruck following ruck dragging in the Blaenavon defence was making space wider out and it was after such a patient build up that centre Dawid Venter went over near the posts for Croudace, who was distributing the ball well from the fly-half position, to kick an easy conversion after ten minutes of the second half. Confidence was growing first with a splendid move initiated by centre Andrew Davies backed up by flanker Dave Morgan and prop Paul Stockley which came to nought by the award of a penalty to Blaenavon for slow release of the ball. And then one emanating from a strong break by flanker Mike Griffiths, linking first with centre Anthony Lane and then the ever present veteran lock John Powell before a turn-over and a 70 yard riposte by Blaenavon. Matt King was looking lively and could have created a try for Lane on his outside before the end of the third quarter but his chip inside was cleared, but the heat was now truly on and Croudace next found Baker with an excellent pass as he came through on the burst going over again untouched for a 19-0 lead. Blaenavon were now rattled and there followed two fairly puerile forward altercations in a five minute period bringing a yellow card for each side from a referee whose patience had at last been affronted both by the fisticuffs and the front row offending. With their hooker temporarily departed scrums became non-contested following which Baker was to outflank the defence by sheer pace and determination with a Croudace conversion yet again. Baker was now on fire and having charged into the opposition, he set the ball back at the ruck for Monmouth to move it to the right through several pairs of hands to reach King who cut inside a defender to set up another conversion for Croudace with ten minutes left to play. It was fitting that the final try of a lively second half showed what a class act Monmouth is becoming. Davies made a trademark side-stepping break to split the defence apart, linked with King up in support in time to feed Baker for his fourth try of the game. He has hardly played better and the 38-0 lead was a fair reflection of the league difference between the teams on the day. Blaenavon stirred once more and drove Monmouth back deep into their half only for their fly-half to use his over dependent boot once again to end the game by kicking position away. Next week will be a bigger challenge when it is back to league matters with a visit by Tredegar Ironsides who have shown Monmouth a clean pair of heels more than once in recent seasons, but this Monmouth team should do far better than to allow such indignities again.
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