In their first full 80 minutes trial game, Monmouth initially looked shaky with their pack being trundled back again and again. After 15 minutes they eventually got into the visitors' half once their tackling had settled down. From a defensive scrum which they disrupted, scrum half Dan White pounced on a loose ball at its rear and darted away to score. The kick failed in the blustery conditions. White was again involved when a ball was thrown wildly back over his head but he recovered it and fed full back Anthony Layne, who ran well but was held up just short of the line. Newport gained a penalty from his failure to release and thus relieved their position, with Monmouth soon to be penalised providing further relief, this time for their back row not binding, a common fault at this stage. With the downhill pressure back on and half-time approaching, the visitors did well to prevent Gareth Morgan from scoring in their left hand corner as his footwork threatened to bamboozle them, but having retained the ball, fly-half Jack Vaughan was able to change direction in mid-field and power over for a 10-0 interval lead. The Old Boys began the second half the stronger and within two minutes forced Monmouth to concede a five-metre scrum, pinning them in the left corner until, from a penalty and a subsequent line-out, their line gave way to a driving maul. The kick from near the touch-line was a good one, narrowing the score to 10-7. Fitness levels were noticeably highly variable throughout both sides but as the second half progressed, Monmouth were eventually to prove to have the legs on the Caerleon-based side. Having endured the early pressure, Monmouth began winning a succession of rucks and this backed up with strong running by their centres brought a converted try from Matt King. The scrummaging was now more dominant as the visitors flagged but they also had their moments with some kicks down field. But when Monmouth's open side flanker charged one such kick back up to the visitors' 22, Gareth Morgan, now at scrum-half, was on hand to pick up and charge over untouched. With King's conversion the gap had widened to 24-7. Carelessness or maybe fatigue was creeping in and when Monmouth broke again, the visitors intercepted a wild pass along the three-quarter line requiring a fine tackle by Derek Truman to prevent a certain score. With full-time approaching and Monmouth backs now playing with fluidity and some cohesion, Morgan ran wide on the right, working a scissors move with the nippy wing Nathan Cocker, who made it over the line only to drop the ball as he was tackled in the in-goal area. But there was compensation to come as a few minutes later Morgan was to cap a perfect start to the season when he popped up again to nail another try and the 29-7 victory. Plenty of encouragement for the new coaches to work upon before the next trial game on 30th August and life in the club-house returning to normal with a regular lottery draw weekly and Autumn International tickets additionally being available.