Impressive win for Monmouth youngsters
The respite in the weather allowed Monmouth U11's play their home fixture against Chepstow on Sunday. Despite the heavy conditions underfoot, both sides contributed to an open encounter, which made for an enjoyable spectacle for the watching supporters. From the outset, the Monmouth pack took the game to their counterparts, who physically were a much larger side. The excellent foraging of Liam O Hare guaranteed a steady stream of possession for driving forwards Morgan Brett, Josh Reid and Rhys Longden who continually made ground. When possession was recycled, the talented Monmouth backs were creating space wide out through the pace and guile of Jamie Norman and Matt Baker. The first try came as a result of a number of forward drives which eventually saw Rhys Longden drive over for the score. With the conversion added by Jamie Norman, Monmouth led 7-0. The Monmouth boys were now dominating the game and it was only a last ditch tackle by the Chepstow full back which prevented a further score. The pressure eventually told when Liam O'Hare showed great strength to drive over from 10 metres to give Monmouth a 12 – 0 lead. From the restart, Monmouth added to their score with an individual try from Jamie Norman. The Monmouth forwards drove to their 10 metre line and when the ball was recycled, Matt Baker fed Jamie, who sped along the touchline, beating the covering fullback with a classic outside swerve to touchdown. The conversion made the score 19 -0 to Monmouth at the break. The second period saw Chepstow come back into the game through their physical forwards and a number of drives eventually resulted in a consolation score which was converted to make the score 19-7. As the game became more and more fragmented, the talented Monmouth backs and forwards went close to breaching the Chepstow line several times. A series of flowing moves saw Ross Haines go close, followed by Matt Baker who was upended by a high tackle with the line beckoning. Matt was not to be denied however and a flowing move ended with Matt sprinting over from 20 metres. The conversion by Jamie Norman completed the scoring and Monmouth had completed an impressive 26 – 7 victory.