The game between Monmouth and lowly Talywain last Saturday was played in a dry almost pleasant period of winter weather but the underfoot conditions were appalling. Earlier heavy rain on a traditionally ‘boggy’ pitch lay in dangerous puddles and in no time at all the match was characterised by handling errors, unrecognisable players and mud in the eyes. Fortunately Monmouth was playing probably its strongest pack and the weaker Talywain were to suffer a high degree of back-pedalling in most of the set pieces. True the referee played as much advantage as he could, forgiving players slips and slides and at one stage even appearing to rob Monmouth of a fourth try-scoring bonus point when he was the only one to see an alleged forward pass from scrum-half Gareth Morgan to centre Huw Adams in rounding off an excellent move despite the muddy underfoot. Fortunately the ground work had been well laid by then but an incident in the first five minutes showed how precarious the course of the game might be. An overthrown line-out led to a Talywain hoof down field which set Monmouth back a good 70 metres. But apart from the odd scares as Monmouth occasionally tried to play fair weather rugby for the most part they toughed it out eventually scoring 4 tries to Talywain’s one even though the home team were first to score from a driving maul with only 13 minutes on the clock. Monmouth rallied realising the type of football they needed to play and helped by the award of a yellow card to Talywain for punching. Within three minutes of this they had driven over from a five a scrum over from five yards with Adam Seymour touching down and Dave Croudace adding the conversion. Even the return of the frustrated boxer did not help Talywain defend a driving maul with bespattered flanker Dave Morgan emerging victorious from under the pile of bodies. 5-12 at half-time was not the cushion that Monmouth might have expected given their dominance in the tight but then handling was an extreme lottery for both teams. Keeping it tight and defending aggressively was the recipe for success in the second half according to the coach but Monmouth had grander ideas. Having gained position and tied in the opposing pack the ball was neatly flipped up to Gareth Morgan who rapidly made ground along the touch-line despite little space, finding left wing Gareth Jones in support for as good a try as you would find on a dry pitch. Croudace converted excellently from near the touchline to stretch the lead to 5-19. Talywain now rallied and but for a crucial steal made by second-row Russell Hoggins they would have scored as Monmouth were temporarily reeling from the influence of some substitutions in the Talywain pack. It did not help Monmouth’s cause either at this stage as passive scrummaging became the norm due to a Talywain front row neck injury. But this stirred Monmouth all the more and two tries went begging as first Jones over-ran his scrum half in the left corner and then Adams try was ruled out for a forward pass. Were Monmouth going to miss out on the bonus point was the question in the minds of the lively visiting supporters? But the conditions soon played into their hands when a desperate pass back to Talywain’s full-back went to ground. He failed to touch it down behind his line as did two following Monmouth players but substitute wing Roberts was there, too, to score his debut try for the 1 st XV. Monmouth deserved the bonus point that this try and the 5-24 win brought but equally important is the confidence boost this third win in succession should have engendered. With three home games now to come, a big opportunity to climb the table beckons, although the challenge from Abertillery BG is considerable if they play as well as they did in the away fixture last September. Hoggins was adjudged Man of the Match in his new found position in the pack, but it must have been a close run thing because of the way the whole team had to battle throughout. Definitely worth the trip and also a visit to the Sports Ground next Saturday as well as contacting the Club now for 6 Nations Home Tickets which have now arrived!
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