WRU East One

Pontypool Utd 24 Monmouth 7

THE filthy weather on Saturday at Pontypool United meant a poorer crowd than usual to watch a hard-fought game in mud, rain and wind, with handling errors galore the dominant feature, reports PETE WALTERS.

Monmouth chose to play up the slope in the first half against the elements with fly-half Harry Johnson regularly pegging back the home team with booming kicks.

But an early line-out for Pontypool close to the Monmouth line saw a drive which brought the first converted try of the game inside the first ten minutes.

Whilst the incidents were many, few were that positive, or worthy of mention, although there were five tries, three of which were converted well with (very) occasional limited breaks and some rugged tackling.

More obvious though were the fumbled catches, knock-ons and penalties, largely for offside.

The home forwards’ loose field play was the more aggressive despite the sustained endeavours of the Monmouth back row, although the visitors came out even in the frequent set pieces, surprising their opponents with the solidity of their scrum in particular.

Monmouth finally got into the opposition’s half from a move which involved the three-quarters but the fast, short, almost frantic passing amongst them inevitably led to a scrum for mishandling and a try-scoring opportunity lost.

An adventurous penalty kick at goal came their way but from 47m and into the wind it almost predictably failed.

A high attacking 50m punt was then fumbled and the Monmouth player following up, kicked on over the line but was beaten to a touch down.

The hosts were gaining some momentum down the slope with their No 8 leading the charge into the waterlogged areas glistening in the floodlights. And some weak tackling saw Pontypool gain another converted try to lead 14-0 after 30 minutes play.

Both sides battered away until Monmouth appeared to be in with a scoring chance with a 5m line-out on the right, but the chance fizzled out and the half-time whistle sounded.

Colder now, with the weather even worse, Monmouth’s comeback opportunities should have seen deep kicks into foreign territory, but Pontypool were soon just 10m from their line.

And they finally put together an excellent passage of three-quarter play with good off-loading and passing to go 19-0 ahead just six minutes into the second period.

Worse still, the wind now eased, although the underfoot conditions and slipperiness of the ball remained with mistakes now routine.

Centre Morgan Jeffs intercepted a pass, but a chip to the corner by scrum-half Lewis Ryan led to a call back for yet another penalty.

Jeffs then stole a ball in a tackle but soon after, a poor clearance kick was rewarded with a penalty which resulted in a line-out at the same poor point as previously achieved.

Dan White had now taken over at scrum-half and things became more lively with his quickly taken penalties and opportunistic darts from the back of scrums and rucks.

But the lack of linkage did little to gain serious territorial advantage until, with ten minutes to play, he made good ground from a penalty with Ollie Parks up in support for a score which Harry Johnson easily converted.

Flanker Geraint Powell next made one of several good takes at a line-out but soon Monmouth were being pushed back with attempted passes along the line seeing ground lost.

Opportunities to kick into the corner and pressurise were missed, and it was Pontypool who were to round off a deserved bonus point win with a passing move along their three-quarter line to score on the right.

A tough run out then for Monmouth with some lessons to be learned, but also with some plaudits for pluck to reassure them a little before their trip to Senghenydd on Saturday (Jan 14).