The scene was set, pitch marked, flag posts posted, post protection in position and the cast of players assembled and waiting in the wings. Everything was ready except for one of the leading players-the referee! He failed to appear and this threatened to postpone the performance that two men and their dog had queued to attend. This threatened the opening night of Monmouth Druids v Blaenavon Forge Side on Chippenham Mead. Cometh the hour, cometh the man as Druids replacement Paul King (sponsored by Spec savers), took the stage as a last minute stand-in. He stepped up to the whistle and blew to hoist up the curtain. The opening quarter was uneventful as the playing area between the 22 metre areas was utilised all too frequently, as both teams fought for the early advantage. Both sides cancelled each other out as creative play was stifled by mistakes and missed passes. Behind the scrum the Druids backs looked more threatening as their Forge Side counterparts ran across field with the ball and the home side defended easily. The Druids took the lead when from a fluent threequarter move left wing Chris Taylor, broke two tackles to cross the try line wide out on the left for an unconverted try. This was increased when Forge Side were penalised for being offside and Druids outside half Rob Frost kicked the additional three points. Just before half time Forge Side showed they were not going to roll over with a quick piece of thinking at a lineout on the half way line. A quickly taken throw saw one of their wing forwards race away to clear the Druids defence and score in the corner. The conversion kick was unsuccessful but the try brought Forge Side back into the game. The second act started and clearly both sides realised the importance of the next score. Play became heated and the rucks especially were not for the faint hearted. Good interpassing by the Druids saw centre Gareth Jones use his speed to best effect by scuttling over for another unconverted try to make the score 13 – 5 in favour of the home side. This was added to by probably the best try of the match when from a sound scrummage Rob Frost gave Centre Anthony Lane a short swift pass and coupled with a fine line run by Lane ended with him touching down not too far from the posts. The relatively easy conversion was missed by Chris ( Fez) Davies and this could have been crucial at the end of the game. At 18-5 the game looked to be out of the reach of Forge Side but the challenge seemed to spur them on. They pressed the Druids and scored a fine opportunised try in the right hand corner. A successful conversion would have put them in touch, but it narrowly failed. In the final minutes Forge Side attacked strongly and only sound defence from the Druids kept them at bay. Paul King blew the final whistle and the final curtain came down on what could have been a farce not least a light comedy. Anyhow, both sides agreed that it should be replayed as a league game later in the season. Thank goodness nobody ‘broke a leg’ and the audience stood and applauded. |