DMP made it back-to-back home wins on Saturday with an emphatic victory over Chinnor at the Darlington Arena. Garry Law's side ran in 6 tries in an open and entertaining game, a result which sees them leapfrog Plymouth and close the gap to Blackheath and Birmingham Moseley heading into Round 22.

The game was preceded by a minute's applause in memory of Evesham RFC's Jack Jeffery, who tragically passed away last weekend. Both sides also retired the number 11 shirt as a mark of respect. On behalf of both clubs, our thoughts go out to Jack's family and friends at this time.

When the action got underway it was DMP's highest scoring game of the season, with 35 points coming from an impressive first half performance. They opened the scoring on 6 minutes, with Ben Frankland latching onto a well timed pass from Warren Seals to break through and dive over. The second came soon after, when Euan McKirdy spotted a gap from a breakdown in midfield and sprinted over from 30m. Things got even better for the home side on 17 minutes with a brilliant individual try from Ollie Walker, who received the ball on half way and beat three Chinnor defenders to score under the posts. The visitors responded well however, and looked dangerous from a series of attacking lineouts. Mowden defended well, and their forwards held their own against a strong Chinnor pack. DMP had their bonus point try before the half hour mark when Walker dived over for his second of the afternoon after a well timed pass from McKirdy. Chinnor then hit back with an interception try from full back Bourton, but there was still time for a fifth try of the half for the hosts. First Max Davies broke through after a pick and go, before finding McKirdy with a brilliant offload. The scrum half then found Ralph Appleby on his shoulder to dive over on the eve of half time. Seals converted all five first half tries to make the score 35-5 at the break.

Although lower scoring, the second half was just as entertaining as both sides looked to attack from deep. After an unfortunate injury to fly half Seals, Joe Craggs was sent to the bin for a high tackle close to DMP's line. The resulting lineout saw Chinnor's Cameron Terry crash over from a driving maul, with Bourton's conversion narrowing the gap to 23 points. Mowden's 30 point buffer was restored soon after though, with Man of the Match George Shannon sprinting over after another neatly timed pass from McKirdy in the opposition 22. The final 20 saw chances for both sides, before Mowden were reduced to 14 for the second time when Garry Law was penalised for offside close to his own line. Freddie Tuilagi powered over late on to give the visitors hope of a four try bonus point, but Mowden saw the game out well to round off an impressive team performance.

Mowden will now travel to Rams next weekend, before returning to the Arena on Saturday 5th March to face Cambridge.