Darlington Mowden Park are delighted to announce the signing of Chris Georgiou from REC Rennes. The Cyprus international joins DMP ahead of the 2018/19 National One season, having helped Rennes to promotion to Fédérale 1 last season. The full back has previous Championship experience with Yorkshire Carnegie, as well as representing Manly Marlins in Sydney, Australia. Ahead of his move to DMP, Chris said: “I am very excited to be joining Darlington. I spoke with Matt Dudman and Warren Seals who I knew from Carnegie and they had only good things to say about the club. Also, from speaking with Garry Law he seemed very ambitious with his plans for the club and it was something I wanted to be part of. I worked with Mark Luffman at Carnegie from the age of 15 so I know what he’s about and someone I respect highly as a coach.”

Born in Halifax, Georgiou qualifies for Cyprus through his grandfather, and has represented the National Side in the European Rugby Championship. The 26 year-old has a number of international caps under his belt, and registered a hat-trick in Cyprus’ 38-6 win over Slovakia in November. Looking ahead to the 18/19 season, Chris said: “I am very excited to be getting back to English rugby having played a season in France last season. I had a look round the facilities at the family day last Sunday and am looking forward to playing at the stadium. Personally I am aiming to work hard in pre-season, play well in the friendlies and get a starting shirt for the league season. There looks to be a lot of good players here so it will be a good challenge. I hope to help the team build on the 2nd place finish last season and challenge at the top end of the table this time round.”

Mowden Park coach Garry Law was delighted with the latest addition to the squad: “We’re really looking forward to having Chris with us this season. We’ll be looking to draw on his years of experience playing in the Championship for Yorkshire, and we’re looking forward to seeing him fit in and play his style of rugby which should gel nicely with how we like to play the game at Mowden.”

You can see Chris and the rest of the squad in action this season by buying your 2018/19 Season Ticket memberships, available here.