The first game of the National League One 2018/19 season at the Northern Echo Arena allowed all of the DMPRFC supporters to view the squad for the first time and they would not have been disappointed, as all watching were thoroughly entertained by the rugby on show from both sides.

Rotherham Titans RFC certainly played their part in that, however, the home side always had enough in the tank to win the game and were unlucky not to have accrued more points on the scoreboard.

Rotherham have had their fair share of challenges of late and with only two of their Championship side tasking the field on Saturday, it may take some little time for their current squad to gel together.

Considering that thirteen injuries received in the pre-season games and the first league game robbed the ‘MowdenFamily’ of some of their usual combatants the match day squad taking part more than made up for any disappointment. Injuries are unfortunately part and parcel of any season and certainly tests the depth and resilience of any team in the league.

For the first quarter of the first game between the sides, honours were even, however the home side had the better of these exchanges and were unlucky not to have registered on the scoreboard, when on three occasions they had the ball over the Rotherham line. On two of those occasions, the ball was deemed to have been held up, but on the other, what seemed to be a perfectly good try was chalked off by the officials for an offside infringement in the build up.

Nevertheless, Mowden did not show any frustration and on twenty five minutes their patience was rewarded, when after a series of pick and drives, centre Ben FRANKLAND dotted down (5 –0). Fly half Warren SEALS converted, in what would be the first of a 100% success rate for the day. (7 – 0)

This was followed up by a typical snipe from scrum half Bruno BRAVO, wriggling his way over the line near the posts, (12 – 0), again SEALS adding the extras. (14 – 0)

Rotherham applied pressure to the home line as the interval was imminent and were unlucky not to score, as the home defence saw out the half at oranges.

Rotherham’s cause was not helped as the game resumed, when their scrum half Joshua Nott was yellow carded for a technical infringement at a ruck.

Home debutant full back Christian GEORGIOU capped a fine performance when cutting an excellent line through the visitors defence, after an assist from BRAVO who made a telling break, chipping ahead for the scorer, (19 – 0) SEALS converting (21 – 0)

Rotherham did very well whilst down in numbers, when after a series of pick and drives, replacement prop Daniel Richardson touched down, rewarding his side for their resilience, (21 – 5), fly half Callum Irvine converting. (21 – 7)

Mowden achieved their try bonus point as the game approached the final quarter, when stalwart lock Talite VAIOLETI took two defenders over the line with him to register the score, (26 – 7), SEALS converting. (28 – 7)

Home replacement centre Ben STEVENSON showed his class, when adding the next home points, gliding with sheer pace through a defensive gap to score under the posts (33 – 7), SEALS assuredly converting (35 – 7)

Whether complacency took over on the part of the home side, or the pace of the game told, or the visitors decided to mount a last gasp push, Rotherham scored two tries in quick succession.

Richardson grabbed his second try (35 – 12) in similar fashion to his first and then No. 8 Sebastian Nagle-Taylor, arguably the pick of the Rotherham team on the day, powered his way over from close range, (35 – 17), Irvine converting. (35 – 19)

The icing on the cake for Mowden came, when on the last play of the game, hard-working lock Jacob BRADY touched down, (40 – 19), with Warren SEALS kicking the last points with the conversion (42 – 19) as the final whistle was blown.