Fixture

Thanks to the initiative of the Bedlinog Rfc Committee, when only two games were played in the East Division League 1 because of snow, this game was switched to The Wern, home ground of Merthyr Tydfil, and its 4G pitch. A later than usual kick off time allowed for the match to take place after a prior scheduled Youth game.

The score board didn't really reflect the effort and how close the game really was with several first up tackles being missed allowing some very penetrative breaks perhaps being the deciding factor but a second half improvement meant the result was almost there for Monmouth’s taking barring a few handling errors on the visitors’ part.

Monmouth were first to score courtesy of a strong carry by second row Hobbs making sure he kept up his latest record of having scored in each of 6 successive games! Right wing Tabb was on hand to secure the relatively easy conversion as he continued his journey to 100 points for the season to date.

Hobbs continued to punch holes in the Bedlinog defence but the home defence were lively and achieved a turnover when he was stopped.

The boot was now on the other foot for almost immediately Bedlinog sparked into action and ran from their 22 in a move that saw a superb dummy sold and taken with their left wing going in at the corner. Their outside half Coleman converted the tricky conversion in style, a precursor of his accuracy with the boot for later in the game.

A deep kick out of defence went dead resulting in play being brought back to whence it had been kicked giving Bedlinog the position to mount another attack to take a 14-7 lead.

The Monmouth scrum was penalised for turning under pressure and this was repeated until guidance from the touch-line lead the referee to realise that the home loose head prop was the one not pushing straight. Tabb was next to lift Monmouth supporters spirits coming out of defence but sadly the promising move was frustrated by a knock-on.

Captain and centre Dunmore was the next most noticeably in the fray with an excellent break stopped only by an illegality at the ensuing ruck. Sadly the penalty kick to the corner went to touch in goal giving Bedlinog the opportunity through hard running to near the Monmouth line. The defence was initially sound on the line but after 4 phases they succumbed on the half hour with the deficit increasing to 21-7 but eased just a little with another Tabb penalty.

Opportunity next swung Monmouth’s way when the Bedlinog left wing was yellow carded for a late tackle. A further turned scrum brought them another penalty leading to a 40m break by left wing Whelan whose powerful runs were to earn him the Paul Jarrold Tyres Ltd Player of the Match accolade.

Although the ensuing line-out was lost Monmouth re-gained possession in the centre of the field and outside-half White seized the opportunity to score near the posts to take the score to 21-17 just on half-time.

With the dying sun and cold breeze now behind them Monmouth must have been fancying their chances but encroaching within ten metres of a line-out and again some missed tackles saw them again on the back foot. A defensive touch down followed by a goal-line drop-out led to a wide attacking move from which Bedlinog‘s right wing received an exceedingly long pass. His step inside the covering defence took the home team into a 26-17 lead as full time approached.

Monmouth through Tabb pulled back a penalty in front of the posts lifting his season’s scores to more than 100 points when a Bedlinog forward offended and when the match official seemed to be considering a yellow card but did not. Certainly it had been a score frustrating offence.

With little time now left both sides piled in and tiredness began to show with the injury count increasing for Bedlinog. Only minutes to hold out for a losing bonus point but although Monmouth were able to tackle a local attacker he cleverly popped up the ball to a supporting player to stretch the lead to 31-20.

All out attack by Monmouth was now the only option and go for it they did but sadly it was not to be as first substitute flanker Mobbs Morgan had a chance in a wide ranging move but knocked on, soon to be followed in another attack when Dunmore broke through but lost the impetus with his pass out of the tackle being knocked on compounded by the ball being kicked dead soon after on the firmer surface of the 4G pitch.

Another near loss but at least there was a game during the Six Nation’s interval with Nelson next at home on the 9th with the Wales game against France on the following Sunday.

Peter Walters

Gareth Roberts