OUTSIDE half Rob Frost kicked five penalties to steer Monmouth to victory over Crumlin at the Sports Ground last Saturday.
Although they did not cross their opponents' try line, Monmouth deserved their 15-10 success against a side riding high in National League Division Six East.
The forwards laid the foundation for victory with a stirring effort in the loose, led by Johnny Powell and Stuart Boylan. They held their own in the scrums against a bigger pack and stole some of the lineout possession from Crumlin, who were guilty of some bad lapses when in a strong attacking position. They also gave away too many penalties in kickable positions and in a tight game, with little between the sides, this proved crucial to the outcome.
Monmouth put up solid, determined defence when called upon and Frost's accurate kicking out of hand pegged Crumlin back in their own territory for long periods in the second half and completed a good all-round display by the stand-off.
Frost gave Monmouth the lead after only five minutes when Crumlin fell offside, but the visitors hit back to take the lead. Monmouth had to defend a short penalty on their own line and seemed to have done so successfully, when scrum-half Morgan grabbed the ball and fired out a short pass to wing Jas Tyler.
Unfortunately Tyler couldn't hold the pass and from the resulting scrum, Crumlin mounted a couple of charges on the line before their lock forced his way over for a try which was converted, to give them a 7-3 lead that remained until the interval.
Julian Powell replaced Wayne Wadley at loose head for the second half, but within three minutes of the restart, he was back on the touchline, cooling his heels in the sin bin.
He ran some 15 yards to take a swipe at the Crumlin scrum-half who was tangling on the ground with big brother Johnny and the referee had little option than to show him the yellow card. He may even have been lucky not to get red.
So Wadley returned to the front row and Matthew Edwards was taken out of the second row to make way for him. Crumlin could not take advantage of the situation and Frost kicked a penalty from infront of the posts to narrow the lead to a single point after 48 minutes.
Crumlin replied with a penalty two minutes later, but once again Frost reduced the lead to a point and then put Monmouth ahead for the first time after 75 minutes. His fifth penalty in injury time provided some leeway, but Monmouth were more than happy to hear the final whistle and celebrate a hard earned victory.
Team: S Williams; J Tyler, B Smith, A Davies (capt), M Morgan; R Frost, G Morgan; W Wadley (Julian Powell), M Jones, C Nicholas, Johnny Powell, M Edwards, S Boylan, H Morgan, B Morgan.
Monmouth are due to play Bargoed away this Saturday and are home on December 2 to Pentyrch.