Monmouth 6 Chepstow 18

Derby matches between Monmouth and Chepstow are always hard-fought affairs and Saturday's at the Sports Ground was no exception, with Chepstow, who showed far greater vigour and will to win, running out comfortable victors.

The pitch was dry and hard and a fast pace saw many unpredictable boun-ces of the ball.

One such occasion caused the first break-through after only five minutes, when full back Brace failed to touch down a ball behind his own posts. Brad Owen, making his debut for Chepstow, put through a clever grubber kick for right wing Mark Gore to chase, pick up and score in the corner. Mark Roberts converted.

This roused the home team and over the next twenty minutes the game was largely played in the Chepstow half, with Brace making up for his earlier error with two successful penalty kicks, well judged in the strong wind.

Chepstow pulled further away with a penalty goal, by Mark Roberts, just before half-time. Despite Monmouth playing down the slope into their favourite corner after the re-start, it was Chepstow who began to play with the greater purpose, aggression, cohesion and tactical awareness.

Chepstow turned over possession and used the wind that had swung around more in their favour to drive Monmouth back by up to 70 yards at time.

After 35 minutes of uninspiring attempts, it was Chepstow who clinched the game with a converted try from far out after a period of intense pressure on the Monmouth line which ended with front row forward Dan Price driving through and below the desperate tackles to ground the ball.

There was a flurry of enthusiasm from Monmouth during the last five minutes, but Chepstow kept them out of scoring range, with some sound defensive work. A further penalty kick by Mark Roberts sealed the result on the stroke of normal time.

Another new debutant for Chepstow was David Davies, a strong, elusive running centre. This convincing win leaves Chepstow second in the division three East table, with an impressive four wins from five games played.

Chepstow RFC are home this Saturday in a league fixture against Crumlin, Kick Off 2.30pm.