Monmouth Rugby Club needed to beat Bettws and Pontllanffraith to be sure of winning the Swalec Division 5 East title, and played magnificently to win the games 30-five and 37-three respectively, sparking jubilant scenes at the Sports Ground.

In their journey towards the championship, Monmouth RFC had first to meet Bettws in a further re-arranged mid-week game, which they won handsomely on another rainy evening by 30 points to five, despite the inclusion of guest players from other clubs to bolster their opponents.

Scrum half Gareth Morgan had a significant hand in all three tries, scoring one himself with others from Mike Griffiths and Andrew Davies.

Fly half Ricketts used the wind well to control the game, adding 15 points with the boot, but it was the forwards who dogged away through set pieces, rucks and mauls to ensure more than their share of ball for quite exquisite ball handling at times from all quarters of the team.

The scene was thus set for a massive finale last Saturday (12th May) in their final game against Pontllanffraith.

These opponents, too, came reinforced with permit players and apparent guests if the myriad of differing socks being worn was anything to go by, and so it showed in the very competitive game that transpired on Chippenham Mead due to a clash with cricket.

The initial signs were good with No 8 Griffiths bursting through, although the supporting player crucially delayed his pass and Ricketts the Younger soon put Monmouth on the board with a couple of well-struck penalties.

The game remained fiercely competitive though and the visitors clawed one back from an offside decision to keep up the pressure although Monmouth appeared to be the more constructive while Ponllanffraith were cleverly exploiting mistakes with speedy counter-attacks.

With 10 minutes of the first half to play, Griffiths made one of his customary charges down the middle to find centre Layne in support who when he seemed to be running out of options found the ever-supporting flanker McCord at his side who forced his way through tackles to score near the posts.

For the full report, see this week's Beacon (16th May)