International Double Header
Friday 13th March may be unlucky for some but for the Club it marked a milestone on more than one level.
The prospect of hosting the first England International back to back fixture outside of Twickenham was certainly a daunting but exciting opportunity.
The Double Header event saw England take the double victory with England U20s and England Women’s beating the ‘auld’ rivals Scotland in two entertaining fixtures.
The U20s game started slow, with the kick off from Scotland’s fly half Rory Hutchinson heading straight into touch. The nerves quickly faded and England upped the tempo. An exchange of penalties and three England tries from James Mitchell, Paul Hill and James Chisholm meant England went into half time 26-6 . The second half became a battle with both sides leaving everything on the pitch, with neither sides showing signs of backing down it was Scotland winger Ruaraidh Smith who took his opportunity to cross the try line for the only points of the second half , Full time 26-11.
In contrast, England Women restarted their fiery form with an outstanding eight try win over Scotland. Mowden Park’s own Katy Mclean, Tamara Taylor and Ruth Laybourn led from the front at their home ground, with Laybourn scoring three of the eight tries and Taylor forcing her way over the line in the first half. The second half saw a string of replacements including a further three players from the Mowden Park sharks contingent in Heather Kerr, Abbie Scott and Fiona Davidson. England continued to dominate the game crossing the try line 3 minutes into the second half. Scotland made a valiant effort to fight back with a quick interception try but England recovered quickly before running in three of their own.
With a record rugby attendance of 7,620 and the event being broadcast live on Sky Sports it not only showed how Mowden Park has grown as a club and a facility, but it showed the positive impact the Arena has to offer for the region. The demand is indeed high for International rugby in the north east.
Now in our third year at the Arena it is fair to say we have come a long way from our humble roots at Yewisley Drive. We should all be very proud of what we have achieved as a club and we would like to thank all our fans and members for their continued support and hard work with teams, match days and events.
Event photography can be found on our [b]FACEBOOK PAGE[/b]