Having beaten Bettws and Cardiff High School Old Boys in prior trial games hopes were high for the trip last Wednesday to Drybrook and on the face of it the 13-3 reversal for Monmouth might seem a setback.

But when one takes into account the long periods during which Monmouth dominated, the many fine individual performances, the one lucky try difference and the early curtailment of the game when Monmouth were in the ascendancy, the signs were positive indeed.

On a fine night with a well grassed pitch play was evenly matched and end to end for the first half resulting in a penalty kick apiece and then a misdirected kick during an attack when possession needed to be retained, allowed Drybrook to run and then kick deep out of defence.