The Warriors entertained Cwmbran on Sunday 7th February in bright conditions, but on a heavy pitch. Both teams started in a spirited fashion, and despite the heavy pitch played some great open rugby.
Monmouth's teamwork was excellent, and continued to be so throughout the match. It was literally end-to-end stuff, and the breakthrough came after an excellent grubber kick by Max Davies. Cwmbran could not defend quickly enough, and the Monmouth backs swarmed forward, with Dan Sadler winning the race for the touchdown. First blood to Monmouth.
This spurred Monmouth on, and an excellent passage of play broke down on Cwmbran's 22-metre line. Cwmbran then played some excellent rugby to end up scoring a try after good support work by their whole team.
In the second half, Monmouth's forwards dominated, with Dan Edwards, Tom Hawkins, Sean MacMahon and Joe Bezani rampant. Jonathan Clewes at the line-out and hooker Oscar Hughes made sure Monmouth had plenty of possession, winning Cwmbran's ball with ease. Monmouth were sniffing at Cwmbran's try line for a long period of time, but failed to convert the pressure into tries.
Unfortunately, it was Cwmbran who scored next, against the run of play, and this try was followed up with a third a few minutes later. The final score was 15-5 to Cwmbran.
The score did not reflect Monmouths dominance, and in addition to the strong pack performance, Dan Dunmore, Max Senior and Ieuan Gale showed good skill in the heavy conditions.
Coach Lloyd Davies praised the whole squad for an excellent team performance, and gave the Man of the Match accolade to Jonathan Clewes – 'the king of the line-out'.
Next week's match is away against Gwernyfred.