The first leg of the annual Winter Friendly Competition against Caerleon RFC PC was held at the club on Sunday 8 December. After the storms of Friday and Saturday we wondered what state the pistes would be and whether the competition would go ahead at all. When we arrived at 10am the pistes were fine with very little standing water but we had lost a few fence panels. So after hasty repairs we were all set to go. Caerleon are the current holders of the Winter Friendly trophy so Monkstone were determined to win it back.
Things started off well with Monkstone taking 7 of the 12 singles games to establish a 4 point lead. Caerleon came back in the doubles winning 4 of the 6 games and the lead switched to Caerleon who were up 2 points.
As is usual in this competition the 4 triples games that decides the winners meaning that Monkstone needed to win 3 out of the 4 games. All the games were very hard fought and when the last game finished it was honours even so Caerleon retained their 2 point lead [32-30].
Not quite the result we wanted but its all to play for in the 2nd leg at Caerleon on 5 January 2025.
RESULTS
