The 4 degrees below freezing by the end of the ‘friendly’ away game against Usk last Friday evening made for a vigorous game which both packs enjoyed. The spectators however had to imagine much of the forward happenings because of the clouds of steam which enshrouded the players much of the game punctuated relatively often by spectacular breaks by the backs as Monmouth beat their local ‘foes’ by 44-14. The weather, too, did little for this writer’s ability to take notes with a malfunctioning biro and fingers and an increasingly soggy notepad, hence this shortened version of events. Monmouth got off to a tremendous start with Usk wondering what they had to do to stop wave after wave of movements with the visitors recycling the ball seemingly at will from rucks, with the result that within five minutes, No8 Tim Hanks first scored followed closely by left wing Tom Baker back from his work(?) on Jersey. Neither kick was converted so it was an easy matter once the Usk pack in turn got going to narrow the gap to three points with a converted try of their own after their scorer stretched out to score through a good tackle. The game was now more even and after failing to kick a relatively easy penalty for obstruction on centre Croudace, only a well executed tackle by full back Matt King prevented Usk going ahead after they had broken well out of defence. Half an hour into the game a sparkling break by King, taken on by Dawid Venter was scored near the posts by the supporting fly-half Huw Adams and then converted the try to stretch the lead to 17-7. Despite much energy expended by both sides there was no further score again before half-time although Baker came near. From the re-start Monmouth continued their ascendancy in the backs as Adams scored a converted try again near the posts although the Usk forwards were giving as good as they got with various players becoming side-lined injured along the way. A penalty for obstruction by Usk and another Tim Hanks try widened the gap to 25 points at 32-7 and then the Usk pack became sufficiently roused perhaps helped by ‘ their opponents’ substitutions to drive through mauls some considerable distance to scor another converted try of their own after half an hour but their bolt appeared to have been shot after this and Monmouth ran in two more tries before the end with one converted. The best of these was by replacement right wing Gareth Jones who latched on to a poor attacking kick by Usk, running a good 55 yards down the right hand touch-line and coming infield of his right foot to score near the posts for a converted try and a 39-14 lead with centre Dave Baker soon rounding the game off with an unconverted try half way out on the left. Ricketts and Griffiths excelled around the field in the Monmouth pack on a lousy night and scrum-half Gareth Morgan looked to be back to near his best with several electric breaks. The Club hopes to find another friendly this coming weekend to prevent International match rustiness creeping in and weakening their league performances, but this does not mean that the Club-house will not be a welcoming place for those wanting to watch Wales play on the newly mounted flat screen television. For the more hardy there are a few tickets still available from the Club for what should be a good hard game against the Pacific Islanders.
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