Fixture

The final league fixture of 2024 provided a mouth-watering encounter between local rivals Abergavenny and Monmouth. Monmouth, who have had some notable victories in recent weeks were keen to revenge the defeat to Abergavenny in the opening fixture of the season. Abergavenny selected  Liam Williams, Robbie Lewis, Matt Charles, Will Evans, Dan Beavan, Harry Judd, Luke Evans, Rob Dudley-Jones in the forwards. Rhys Ferguson Dayle Price, Will Dudman, Harvey Barrier, Tom Foley, Anthony Squire and Ben Evans.

In the early exchanges both sides showed a willingness to spread the ball wide and tested the opponent’s defenses, but both stood firm resulting in very few scoring opportunities in the first quarter. Liam Williams, Robbie Lewis and Matt Charles gave the home side an advantage at scrum time which put Monmouth’s attacking threat on the back foot for much of the first half. Rob Dudley- Jones and replacement Max Gregory carried well to keep Abergavenny moving up field while Luke Evans was strong over the ball. The deadlock was broken when after a concerted period of pressure in which Tom Foley had made a clean break in mid field, Rob Dudley-Jones forced his way over for the opening try giving Abergavenny a 5 – 0 lead. Having given away several soft penalties Abergavenny found themselves defending their own line, after several attacking phases Kester Mobbs-Morgan found space out wide to score Monmouth’s try which went unconverted levelling the scores at 5 – 5 going into half-time.

Eoin Shackleton and Kiatisak Tinanop were introduced at the start of the second half, with the scores level the pressure was building with both the players and spectators. Kicks at goal were drifting wide of the mark on both sides, every attacking move was breaking down with an error or determined tackling. The vocal decibels of the crowd were rising and so the stage was set for someone to win the game for either side. The pendulum of territory and possession swung from side to side, kickable opportunities came and went and half chances were not taken. As darkness approached and the clock ran down the referee brought to an end an enjoyable game of rugby with a draw probably a fair result from this full-blooded local derby.

The Quins played the Druids on the bottom pitch in an athletic league fixture. In the first half Monmouth were in the ascendancy scoring four tries with one for Abergavenny for Morgan West-Jones. Abergavenny Quins came back into the game in the second half with tries for Aaron Mills and Rob Lothian but Monmouth ran out winners by 29 – 17.