West Mon RFC

It was blustery conditions and a poor pitch that caused the away team most of the problems yesterday. once again the West Mon pack dominated from the kick off. They won all their scrums and over 90% of their own line out ball, as well as a large portion of the opposition.Several times Rogerstone were driven off their own ball. In fairness though they continued to tough it out until the final whistle and enjoyed a good level of possession for 15 minutes at the start of the second half.

West Mon were able to field an almost unchanged side for a third time this year , Steve Roynon dropping into the engine room from his usual role on the flank and ably assisting Gareth (MG) Jones. The usual incumbent Stuart Smith being North of the Border on another of his numerous jaunts. Anthony Armstrong goes from strength to strength at 8 , again excellent in the loose and starting to look at home with the ball at his feet at the back of the scrum. West Mon continue to be blessed with a profundity of front row forwards , again able to have cover for a complete front row on the side. This week saw a couple of West Mon's latest recruits both start , Duane and Ieuan Gardner , father and son pairing at hooker and open side and both turned in excellent performances all over the field. DJ winter , the irrepressible leader and captain struggled with a groin strain and also following a high tackle from behind that looked to have upset his usual rhythm. Although he seemed to recover enough to make some very good runs mid way through the second half , returning to the fray late on where Matt James had ably stepped in. Rob Young shored up the scrum from loose head with Mark Meadows as usual making a solid appearance at hooker as Duane took a well earned rest.

The first half saw Rogerstone use a very strong wind to good effect , with West Mon constantly having to make hard yards to regain field position. The pitch didn't help either , poor drainage has always been a problem here , and from the outset there were areas of standing water. West Mon managed only three tries , and the team knew they had on occasions taken the wrong options. Kicking ball away on several occasions when the best option was go through the phases , especially as West Mon continued to dominate at the set piece and ball was guaranteed.

Right wing Craig Buffin scoring a well taken individual try after just a few minutes. Instead of steadying the away team though this seemed to cause them to overplay both ball and field positions . To often as the ball moved through the backs a mistake forced a set piece , or allowed Rogertsone to kick loose ball down field. West Mon are lucky to have three of the best open field broken play runners in the division , with Mathew and Deri King and Lewis Edwards , although the conditions didn't help they still continued to play a attacking style that on a better day would have paid dividends. Left Wing Phil Simmonds had his usual strong game in defence , and was unlucky that only desperate last ditch tackles prevented him from securing at least a brace of tries.

Dilwyn Lear at blind side flanker in the end scored an excellent try on one of the rare occasions the vistors used their forward dominance to pick and drive through several phases , well marshalled by Shaun Mason. Deri King unusually missing the conversions , leaving both his kicking boots (and kicking tee) back in the changing rooms. The teams turned around at half time 10-3 when in reality West Mon should have had twice as many tries.

Rogerstone started the second half looking a different team , but after a while West Mon regained the advantage. Anthony armstrong scoring a second try in two weeks again with a pushover try , having come close a few minutes before with several of strong runs as West Mon camped on Rogerstone's line.

Finally a mention for Dean Jones who held the line at inside centre and used his experience in pretty difficult conditions , and also to Casey Mahoney making his debut at outside centre and looking a great prospect fro the future. A natural and strong player this has been obvious over the last fews weeks in training , but his angles of running on several occasions , a scissors move off Deri King and a couple of strong take-ups into the Rogerstone forwards where his strength allowed an excellent platform for his pack to quickly recycle the ball showed that there is a lot more to come from this young man. In the end the whole bench saw action , with Dan Satchel continuing to improve week by week , his tackle on Rogerstone's scrum half probably the highlight of season so far. James Munday and Daniel Duke as always showing their class whatever their positions.

Coach Mark Jones now has just two training sessions to choose his strongest team before the biggest game of the season so far against Gwernyfed in the quarter final of the Ivor Jones Cup Saturday 28th January at Skew Fields. A good turnout this Tuesday and Thursday will make this easier.