On the May bank holiday weekend a number of families set off from Monmouth and the surrounding area, braving the M5 traffic and the thought of having to drink Cornish beer in order to travel to Tencreek holiday camp in Looe.

Despite the Friday evening traffic everyone arrived safe and well in readiness for the under 9’s and under 11’s junior rugby teams to represent Monmouth in the annual Ivybridge rugby festival, Devon.

The rugby festival took place on the Sunday, giving the children and parents time to prepare for the event. Despite well made plans and promises for all children and parents to get a couple of early nights in order to be in prime condition for the event, an invitation to the bar and a late night, talking rugby and important tactics around the fire pit ensued.

Despite the parent’s best efforts to derail the “early night” discipline the rugby festival was a complete success. The juniors played 4 games each against good and well organised opposition.

Both the under 9’s and under 11’s won all of their games in a convincing manner. The under 9’s, for whom I have a particular interest in because my son is part of that team, in their 4 matches scored circa 30 tries while only conceding 3. The story was much the same for the under 11’s!

The standard of the rugby played by both teams was nothing short of exceptional. From the moment the whistle blew in the first game to the final whistle of the last game the enthusiasm, the running and the tackling was relentless. The opposition teams were completely overwhelmed by the well-coached, well-practiced and very well-disciplined young players of Monmouth RFC.

It is possible that Monmouth RFC will not be invited back to the Ivybridge Rugby festival again, not because of poor behaviour or bad sportsmanship, simply because the teams representing Monmouth were too good.

Whilst on the subject of discipline, the behaviour of all of the children for the entire bank holiday weekend was nothing short of exemplary, they most certainly, without question played their part in and off the field of play.

As a parent I am extremely proud of that, in some ways more so than for the fantastic match results. The children, coaching staff and parents have represented Monmouth in a proper manner that everyone can be proud of.

This weekend just, we had another event, a very well organised awards ceremony on Chippenham Playing Fields, bringing the season to a close with another Monmouth RFC success.

Many thanks to the Coaching Staff and the Team Management Staff for making the Monmouth RFC under 9’s and under 11’s junior teams stand out in this way.

And also, many thanks to all who work tirelessly supporting Monmouth RFC throughout the long hard seasons.