A Cinderford XV provided the opposition on Chippenham on Saturday for Monmouth's last trial game before their first Swalec league match of the new season at 2.30pm next Saturday.

On a sunny day and a firm pitch, running rugby was the order of the day and five tries, a penalty and four conversions to one penalty in reply gave the home team an encouraging 36-3 win.

Several individuals shone in the backs, at half back and in the pack; fitness was reasonably good given the heat of the day, and slick passing saw play moving from side to side with occasional incursions up to and over the visitors' line for the tries that brought a convincing win.

Try though they might, Cinderford failed to cleanly break through the Monmouth defences relying on a sole penalty goal to prevent a whitewash.

Scrum half Gareth Morgan was the first to shine with a break down the left when he skinned a defender on the outside and with a kick ahead made 50 yards in the first few minutes of the game.

In the early stages, much of the activity came from an eager Monmouth thwarted many times through by some firm refereeing and penalties awarded against.

Right wing Adam Roberts was first to score with a penalty kick, but it was a Morgan break, taken on by left wing Dewi Lane and completed near the posts by centre Jake Meredith that began to set the scene. Roberts added the conversion for a 10-0 lead.

Meredith was involved again in a spectacular run down the right but a hard lesson he will have learned is that a dive over the try line would have brought a very well deserved score rather than an in-goal tackle taking him over the dead ball line.

Half-time beckoned but home confidence was high. Instead of taking an easy shot at goal, a penalty kick to the corner brought a line-out which No 8 Mike Griffiths easily gathered and from the ensuing drive and successive rucks, captain Sam Harding was in the thick of it to stretch the lead to 15-0.

Several substitutions were made to try out other combinations and it was 10 minutes before Griffiths was to score with a push-over try which Roberts converted excellently from the left hand touch-line.

The next try was far more spectacular. Layne took on a three-quarter move on the right, cutting in towards the posts and from the ruck that followed, Morgan broke right, passing inside for brother David to crash over near the posts. Roberts added the easy extra two points.

Predictably after another ten minutes as the final whistle beckoned Monmouth threatened the Cinderford line and following a visitor transgression, Gareth Morgan took the penalty quickly stretching the defence right, only to find veteran utility forward Stacey Edwards up in support to score to great crowd applause.

All in all a good run out with 36 more points in the bag giving the coaches some tricky decisions as to who deserves to play where, but Hafodyrynys will prove a sterner test at home next week and provide a better measure of how prepared the team truly is.