As a warm-up to the festive season Monmouth travelled away to Machen on 22 December and came away with a much needed win and a bonus point to boot. The seemingly sharp and lively home team initially created the pressure but Monmouth defended well and following a penalty setback for offside quickly responded by taking the ball upfield for scrum half Gareth Morgan to make a neat break which left wing Tom Baker finished off in style. Five minutes into the game and Machen were 3-5 down. Machen responded with verve and when halted added their traditional brand of vigour which led to a bout of general fisticuffs and a penalty for them which they missed from a seemingly unmissable position. Momouth appreciated being let off the hook and pinned Machen down in their own half. First Baker nailed his opposing wing by following up quickly and then 2nd row John Powell was held up over the line. Monmouth next lost one of their own lines-out near the Machen line but were quick onto the palmed back loose ball with hooker Mark Jones driving over to take the lead to 3-10 and setting himself on course for the Springfield Cider sponsored Man of the Match Award. Monmouth’s pack was the stronger and the back row was rampaging well. Machen were penalised for being the wrong side at the ruck and Mark Jones drove again and with the recycled ball young flanker Ollie Gray burrowed over to up the score to 3-15 on the half hour. Machen rallied through their sparkling fly half but it did not look like their day when he twice stepped the onrushing defence only to drop the ball giving away their last first half scoring opportunity. Things were looking good with the lights now on and two minutes into the second half scrum-half Morgan kicked ahead from a quick penalty and won the race to the touch-down. Looking sharp he capitalised on the pressure Machen were under by using an overlap on his right as a decoy to breach the defence and score yet another unconverted try. Machen were rattled by now and possibly helped by a large-scale substitution of 4 Monmouth players, they trundled their way up the pitch and eventually went over for their first try. But then came the move that should have sealed the game for good. Wing Baker defending against three players, intercepted a poor pass from the Machen captain well and ran the ball in from some 75yards with no-one fast enough to threaten him. His much improved confidence had brought two well taken tries and this one under the posts enabled Monmouth to obtain the extra points from the boot of Croudace Christmas generosity now crept in and the last 15 minutes became a nail-biting experience as Machen fought their way back with Monmouth increasingly out-mauled and rucked. Weak tackling became the norm and Machen were allowed to claw back three tries with the conversion of the last bringing them two losing bonus points which may prove useful as they fight to keep away from the lower reaches of the league. But Monmouth had scored 6 tries in their 25-32 win and earned themselves a bonus point in doing so which with hindsight themselves up well for the annual derby away at Usk on Boxing Day afternoon and potentially the second half of their season. Boxing Day came and the Druids in front of a large and appreciative crowd, made the most of a glorious day and a Sports Ground pitch which had drained well from the overnight rain, to score five tries in a 27-10 win over their near neighbours, Usk. The scene therefore was set for the annual battle between Usk and Monmouth and before an even bigger crowd. Monmouth inside the first quarter, rushed away to a 0-12 lead with 2 nd row John Powell on both occasions providing the necessary link between ruck and the backs, developed further by full back Matt King who scored the first and stylishly made all the ground, wrong-footing several defenders for wing Dave Brace to score the second. But despite seemingly endlessly missed opportunities the only other score was a penalty to Usk making the game quite thrilling and potentially a close run thing until the very end. Monmouth’s play was stylish and played at a high tempo but the final pass went begging on at least five occasions. Usk had occasional bouts of pressure but rarely looked like scoring and on the one occasion that they did break away, flanker Mike Griffiths just got back enough to scrag the ball carrier and disrupt the move with captain Andrew Davies clearing up. All the back row had Rampaged and linked well but with No 8 Adam Seymour shading his colleagues to win the coveted Springfield Cider sponsored Man of the Match Award. Monmouth in general had performed well, throwing the ball around with abandon and in the first half had also dominated the scrums. Being Christmas one can forgive the knock-ons and forward passes that prevented them scoring at least another 20 points but had they lost the game it would have been quite a travesty even though it remained a possibility right to the end. They and the Druids have earned a holiday break now until their next planned fixtures on 5 January and an even better half of the season one hopes and expects.
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