A long journey to Pyle in murky weather last Saturday brought no joy to the extraordinarily faithful band of Monmouth supporters who follow our Rugby team because they ploughed out of this year’s Cup competition by yet again losing a game they could and should have won. True the referee gave Monmouth a hard time particularly during the first half with fine decisions seeming always to go the other way, and again in the second whilst appearing to protect the Pyle youngsters from the visitors’ dominance in the scrums and mauls, but the game was there for the taking. However, through losing balls in the tackle at crucial times and poorly executed kicks ahead it was not to be and Pyle rightly progressed to the next round as the 21-15 winners. The first twenty minutes were frantic with movement from end to end punctuated only by frequent blasts on the whistle and much Monmouth defending. But even though the set pieces were even at this stage Pyle’s young an relatively light-weight flankers were the ones winning the scrabbling for loose ball backed up by their captain at No. 8 who gave their team solidity in more ways than one. Injures are admittedly causing Monmouth some long term difficulties but this should not detract from Pyle’s victory. Following a period of scrappiness on both sides Pyle kicked deeply to the corner where the dependable Gareth Morgan appeared to save the moment by kicking to touch under pressure from his in-goal area, but the quicker thinking home forwards took a quick line-out and had scored before Monmouth fully appreciated the danger. 7-0 down and 22 minutes into the game brought the response needed and Monmouth took play back up the slope. A strong drive in a scrum had Pyle on the back foot helped scrum half Morgan put his opposite number under such pressure that he threw an untakeable pass to his fly-half only for Morgan to be on hand to drop down on the loose ball. Full back Brace converted the score and at 7 points apiece confidence was growing. The foragers in the team, and in particular prop Stacey Edwards, were beginning to turn over ball but the line-out was not as secure as it sometimes can be. However, with the penalty count shifting and tempers fraying, Brace kicked Monmouth into the lead on the half hour with a fine kick. Consistency was not the name of his game this week though and an opportunity to extend the lead just before half-time was not taken and some dissent by Monmouth saw them marched back 30 metres to create an easy kick at goal for Pyle to even the scores 0-10 at the interval. Ian Seymour in his pep-talk was happy with the tight play but criticised the lack of hunger and aggression in the loose and with the benefit of the slope and sensible kicking to the corner all looked reasonable for the second half. The backs were up for it it seemed as left wing Jack Butler had several runs into the Pyle half and Monmouth at one time all but scored from a strong drive by the pack, but back row man, Boylan, was stopped just two feet short of the line. From the ensuing penalty for not releasing, although quite how he could move from under those appearing to lie on top of him was not clear, Monmouth were harshly adjudged to have obstructed a Pyle player. The further penalty was blasted a full 75 metres down the field and from a subsequent penalty for coming in from the side as Monmouth scurried back to defend, Pyle took a 13-10 lead. The injustice of much of this stirred the visitors again and after a move up-field second row Harvey Morgan was awarded the try as Monmouth piled over the Pyle line from a line-out. 13-15 with 12 minutes to go was encouraging until Pyle won a scrum deep in Monmouth territory and their more incisive backs scored in the corner to take a lead they were not again to relinquish. Monmouth were now chasing the game and it showed as balls were spilled at inopportune times and attacking kicks in open play went straight to touch, the task worsened as Pyle scored a dropped goal to stretch their lead to 21-15 leaving their hospitable supporters jubilant and Monmouth once again going out of a game they ought to have won. Next week brings a game in the league against Rhiwbina ( Cardiff) when Monmouth will need to re-group if a decline is not to set in. Your support will be more than welcome at the Sports Ground at 2.30pm on 3 November!
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