Monmouth on tour in Cyprus (From Free Press Series)

Monmouth on tour in Cyprus

Sixty-two members of Monmouth Rugby Club concluded the 2003/04 season in style by travelling to Cyprus for the final two games before a well-deserved Summer break.

In temperatures of nearly 30 degrees Celsius, more suited to sunbathing and quenching one's thirst, Monmouth first had to face the might of a very determined and fit Combined Services XV which went under the name of Akrotiri RFC.

Akrotiri's hospitality was stirring both on and off the field and around 200 saw a game that see-sawed throughout and still could have gone either way right until the end.

It seemed that whenever Monmouth gained position, they were pressurised by deep kicks behind their defences helped by the strong wind that blew at 45 degrees across the pitch. But it was Gareth Morgan with a sniping run from the base of an offensive position who scored first with an unconverted try in the left hand corner of the field.

This however only served to rouse the Home team whose strong open-side wind forward broke away through some tentative tackles offloading the ball when tackled by full back Brace to a supporting lock who evened up the score with another unconverted try.

The pressure was on as the visitors began to feel the strain of the long flight and perhaps not quite as much sleep as such finely honed athletes are said to need before important games.

The military ire was raised and they eased ahead to 8-5 with a well taken penalty and things were looking risky for Monmouth.

But at least they now had the benefit of the elements and substitute fly-half Croudace converted an unbelievable penalty from far out to level the scores for an 8-8 draw.

Read the full report in the Monmouth Free Press.