Monmouth came up against the best Chepstow team they have played for years last Saturday (10th December) and saw their Swalec Bowl hopes disintegrate, losing by four tries to three or 35-23 overall.

Their chances were not helped by the stirring start made by Chepstow, which saw them race to a 20 points to three lead in the first 12 minutes of the game.

Strong running by the home team compounded by missed tackles and at times acres of space out wide had Monmouth questioning themselves in the early stages with only a penalty kick by fly-half Rhys Ricketts to their credit, but 28 minutes in, centre Andrew Davies charged down a kick and ran hard for his try out on the right.

Ricketts relished the opportunity to narrow the score to 20-10.

This lifted the Monmouth side and they next pressurised Chepstow down the leftward slope but lost the line-out gained from a penalty and found themselves 55 yards further back and ultimately on the receiving end of a further penalty.

The forward battle was stirring throughout and it was no surprise to see a player from both sides sent to cool down for 10 minutes but as half-time approached the best Monmouth could achieve was another Ricketts penalty.

Half-time at 23-13 left a literal hill for Monmouth to climb especially as they now had the steep slope of the Chepstow pitch to conquer as well as their marauding mauling forwards backed by their long kicking fly-half.

For full report see Beacon 14/12/11.