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West Mon returned to form with a hard fought victory at Rogerstone in what may turn out to be one of the performances of the season.

The narrowness of the home pitch meant that there was little space for threequarters to excel.  Therefore it was left to the forwards to decide the outcome of this fixture with no quarter asked or indeed given.

There was little to separate the sides in the first half with the home side dominating the early stages of play.

After weathering the initial storm, West Mon came more into the game with half backs James Reed and new outside half Ashley Leek shrewdly bringing the hard running of Luke Royal (in his 100th game for the club), Scott Morris and the outstanding Connor Witcombe into play.

The versatile Elliot Bodenham was also prominent on the flank and after a concerted period of pressure, Sam Cook powered his way over for his 5^th try in 6 starts. (not bad for a front row forward)

However the lead was short lived as Rogerstone replied with a well worked try of their own to leave the sides tied 7 all at the break.

The opening period of the second half saw the visitors come under significant pressure and it was no surprise that this resulted in a second try for the homeside in the 60^th minute.

A further problem for the visitors was the hamstring injury to wing Wes Bodenham who was replaced by a well-tanned Michael Harvey.

At this point and probably in past seasons, there would only have been one winner.  However this West Mon team is made of much sterner stuff, that plays its best rugby when under pressure.

With captain Luke Shelton imperious in the lineout and (the daddy of the pack) Duane Gardner entering the fray , the visitors eight started to dominate and the after a sweeping movement in which backs Dion Perry (making a welcome return) and the stylish Cameron Jones were prominent, Rob Groves crossed for a superb try after a 20 metre run.

Things got even better when from the restart, the impressive Sion Griffiths started a move which covered some 70 metres before player coach Robbie Taylor crossed for his team’s third try of the afternoon.  Two conversions and a penalty goal by the reliable Craig Buffin completed the scoring for the visitors.

The homeside were certainly not going to throw in the towel and despite some excellent defence by Owain Beard and Chubba Lucas, the last move of the game saw Rogerstone cross for a well deserved try of their own.

This was a great game of rugby between two very committed sides that was destined to leave one side delighted with the outcome, and the other distraught.  Glad we were in the delighted camp

Dewch ymlaen Gorllewin