Chepstow 5 Monmouth Druids 31

MONMOUTH Druids won their second away victory this season when they defeated Chepstow RFC in conclusive fashion by 31 points to 5.

Heavy playing conditions on a wide pitch faced the sides on a gloomy day. Druids skipper Jack Howells won the toss and chose to play up the slope, looking to have the benefit of this advantage in the second half when limbs were tired.

Early play saw the Druids have territorial advantage but handling errors caused no success. One such move was started by Pete Saran with a clean catch from a Chepstow clearing kick. He made ground before the ball moved through Druids hands and several phases of play for flanker Dan Anstey to open the scoring. The conversion kick failed but a five point lead was welcome up the slope.

Just before the break, Chepstow drew level following a scrum in the Druids 22 metre area. The ball was moved to a centre who broke a tackle and crossed between the posts. With the conversion kick surprisingly missed, the half time whistle saw the scores level.

The Druids would have been pleased with this score line and were hopeful of recovering their lead in the second half, and did so with the best try of the match.

Centre Dan White made a searing break from his own 22 metre line. Pete Saran was up in support and he in turn fed right wing Tom Wellington who pinned his ears back starting on the Chepstow 10 metre line. He out-flanked the home defence to cross for his first try for Monmouth, giving the Druids a 10-5 lead.

This signalled a purple patch for the Druids and they made it pay with another try. The weaving run and pace of White finished off a three quarter move half way between the posts and the corner flag. Full-back Kris Gordon added the two points to stretch the lead to 17-5.

To make matters worse for the home side, they suffered a blow when one of their forwards received a yellow card from which the Druids took advantage.

On the half way line, a passing movement by the Druids was apparently held by Chepstow. Visitors centre Tom Hawkins showed good individual skills by slipping a short well timed pass to wing Lido Thomas. With no Chepstow players in view, Thomas set off close to the touch line. His speed took him all the way to the Chepstow try line near the corner flag for a great opportunist try. Kris Gordon improved the try with an excellent kick which sailed between the posts, giving the visitors a 24-5 lead.

To confirm their dominance the Druids added a final score following another passing movement by the backs. Although seemingly breaking down, Tom Hawkins burst through to score close to the posts. Kris Gordon was successful for a third time to make the final score 31-5.

The result marked a fine derby victory by a team well led by Jack Howells who is slowly settling in to his new captaincy responsibilities. Pete Saran with his catching and surging runs was outstanding. Chepstow kicks inevitably found Saran under them and his catching was of the highest order.

Tom Hawkins put in some solid tackles and prop Sean Oaten was prominent with spells of strong running. Dan White and Lido Thomas were impressive as was the play of Dan Ansty in the line out and loose play.

The Druids travel to Risca next week, where they will be looking to continue their success.