DRAGONS ATHLETIC LEAGUE

GWERNYFED ATHLETIC 24 MONMOUTH DRUIDS 25

With the green, white and black first team fixture a victim of the opposition being enable to field a side (symptomatic of the state of the game in Wales) the Athletic took centre stage. Jamie Coles’s side entertained not only an unbeaten Monmouth Seconds XV but also a large crowd in a game in which the lead changed hands several times.

After a fairly convincing win at home in November, Monmouth travelled confident of a similar outcome but were met by a very determined side in which Scott Rees, Kieran price and Ellis Evans were prominent. Attack was the order of the day and when centre Ieuan Thomas cut down his opposite number with a superb tackle, Calum Shine moved quickly from the ruck. The ball passed through the hands of Will Lloyd, Cori Phillips and Thomas and with the Monmoth defence in disarray Lloyd finished off a superb move by touching down under the posts, making his conversion a formality.

Monmouth showed their metal during the second quarter, but the home defence was sound and while Gwernyfed didn’t trouble the scoreboard operator further, thye held their lead with the visitors having only a single penalty to show for their effort in a first half that offered splendid entertainment and plenty of incident and endeavour.

The second period did not fail to disappoint. From the restart the visitors pressed hard and within minutes their livewire scrumhalf wrong-footed the Gwernyfed defence to touch down under the posts, making the conversion a formality. Monmouth’s lead was bolstered by a penalty, stinging the home side into turning the tables, their efforts rewarded when Ellis Evans got in under the posts, Lloyd’s two-pointer recovering the lead.

The referee was excellent but nevertheless zealous in penalising the indiscretion and it was Gwernyfed who felt the full force of the whistler’s decisions, conceding not just a series of penalties but also a red card when Scott Rees was ordered off for what looked to be a fairly innocuous offence. Monmouth’s fly half was a threat with the boot all afternoon and took full advantage of penalties, opening uo a 22-14 lead with only ten minutes remaining.

Re-inforced by fresh legs, props Cellan Skyrme, returning from long term injury, Ashton Barrell and hooker Owen Workman, Gwernyfed once again took to attack and when some impressive tackling caused a move out of the Monmouth 22 to break down, skipper Jamie Coles pounced upon the loose ball to canter in, once again Lloyd converting and restoring the lead.

The game had everything, including a late winner for Monmouth when yet another decision went against the home side, allowing Monmouth’s number 10 to seal a one point win in a game in which a draw would have offered reward to all concerned for offering a great afternoon’s rugby, emphasising the value of second XV rugby and the merit of commitment to the badge so clearly in play at both Monmouth and Gwernyfed.