The down turn in Monmouth Rugby Clubs fortunes continued when the Druids were defeated by New Inn Panteg in the semi final of the Ivor Jones cup. Although having territorial advantage throughout the game, New Inn Panteg took full advantage of every opportunity that came their way and made the Druids pay for their lack of attacking ideas. The match started optimistically for the Druids as they had slightly the better of general play without creating any clear cut chances. They failed to break through the strong home defence tackling although looking the more likely to score. New Inn took the lead when their Number Eight kicked a twenty five metre penalty goal awarded for a late tackle by a Druids defender. New Inn Panteg were handicapped when one of their back row forwards was yellow carded for offending at a ruck.The druids, try as they could, did not gain any advantage in the way of a score. Back to full strength, New Inn stepped up their efforts which resulted in a significant score. From a scrum in their own 22 metre area their outside half launched a clever kick between the Druids wing and full back. A cruel bounce was taken advantage of by the home fleet footed right wing and he sprinted past the Druids defence to touch down under the Druids posts for a fine opportunist try, which was converted by the Number Eight. At half time the Druids had every hope to be optimistic thinking whilst in arrears they could get into the game with a little more effort. They were severely hindered by two yellow cards awarded against the Druids which sadly coincided and at this stage New Inn Panteg took the game away from the visitors. A rolling maul close to the Druids line resulted in a New Inn forward crashing over for an unconverted try. To rub it in still further, New Panteg kicked a penalty goal to make the final score 18-0, a deserved and convincing victory. The Druids for their part never lacked effort and gave their all. Now to the referee-well we all like to have a go-but the Pontypool and District must look at the competence of their officials. This one gave the Druids absolutely nothing and his after match appraisal must have been interesting! This is in addition to an incident in an important league game earlier in the season when the Druids suffered from incompetent refereeing. The Druids must look at themselves and seek to improve for next season. They must find out why after winning hard won possession, why does the ball seem to get stuck in the ruck and maul and eventually and slowly be released. There seems to be little idea what to do and how best to do it. The season is not over but it has been successful but not won anything.
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