MONMOUTH School 1st XV continued their unbeaten run with a comprehensive 56-6 win at Bristol Grammar School, the highest score in this fixture since 1893.

After winning the toss Monmouth opted to play against a strong blustery wind and immediately found themselves under pressure, conceding six points in as many minutes. Bristol hammered away at the Monmouth line but excellent defence with Pip Hodgkin and John Powell prominent, kept them at bay.

Monmouth's first points came through a Will Edwards penalty following an incident which saw the home side's scrum half being sent to the sin bin. Edwards repeated the dose five minutes later to level the scores. Bristol, through good use of the wind, continued to press the Monmouth line.

Some sloppy handling in their own 22 looked to have put Monmouth under pressure but flanker Joe Curtis secured the loose ball and then set off on a remarkable run. Weaving back and forth he beat most of the Bristol team, some of them twice, before crossing for an outstanding individual try.

Edwards added the extra points and from the restart sent Will Kershaw-Naylor away on a run, as he was tackled the ball was hacked on by prop Jimmy Jones who then gleefully dived on the loose ball as it crossed the line. Edwards continued his good kicking form by converting from wide out.

Monmouth, despite struggling to win any clean lineout ball, continued to dominate and went further ahead with converted tries from the ubiquitous Curtis and Kershaw-Naylor, the latter a superb solo effort from fully 80 yards.

The second half saw more of the same as Bristol began to tire. Despite losing both Higgins and Hollick to spells in the sin bin, Monmouth moved the ball at every opportunity and were rewarded for their enterprise with further tries by Shankland, Kershaw-Naylor and Edwards. Edwards converted two and added a penalty goal to take his personal tally to 26 points.

This was the School's best performance of the season but the high number of - penalties conceded around the tackle area was cause for concern and will need addressing if the excellent run is to continue.

The next test comes this Thursday as Monmouth travel to top Welsh state school, Cowbridge.

The 2nd XV produced a powerful forward display to run out comfortable winners, with captain Simon Goodman and Nick Jones turning in solid displays.

The under 16's lost their unbeaten record, losing 18-12. This was a triumph of sorts as they had lost by 50 points to the same opponents the previous year.