THIS year will go down as a vintage one for rugby at Monmouth School as their 1st XV, U16 As and U15As have all put in winning performances against Millfield School. Since 1991, the School has only secured two victories at 1st XV level against Millfield, a school many regard as one of the strongest sporting schools in the UK, with over 1200 pupils. The Head, Dr Steven Connors, was delighted, commenting "I would like to congratulate all those boys who put in such a huge effort on Saturday to secure this result. "I have been impressed by their dedication and the way they have been training this term. Their hard work has paid off and they thoroughly deserved to win. I would also like to thank the dedication of the coaches. "My teaching staff takes responsibility for an individual team which enables us to field up to four teams in a year group. This Saturday we fielded 14 teams, which involved around 240 boys, a good example of how we aim to give players at all levels match experience". John Bevan, ex-British Lion, is Master-in-charge of rugby coaching and, with Mr James Hartley, has helped to ensure the school have a first class coaching team in place. "It was heartening to see that there is strength lower down the School too and I hope that we can consolidate and build on this in the years to come" said the Head. John Bevan commented after the match, "Monmouth School put in a performance we've been threatening for some time. "In attack, we turned opportunities into points, through patience and persistence. In defence, relentless step-up tackles in twoís and threeís resulted in slow ball for the opposition, or turnover ball". He said solid set play and commitment from all fifteen at the contact area frustrated Millfield. "I was delighted that this was the pattern throughout the Junior sides and that it worked against, arguably, the most consistently successful rugby school in the UK".