A well organised Middleborough are too good for Mowden

An early start for an early kick off saw Mowden Park kicking off first against a large Middlesborough squad who are a very well drilled side.

In the first half, Middlesborough dominated with the movement of their backs and quick skilful passing saw Boro running 4 tries past Mowden with little response.

However, that is not to say Mowden did not stay at the task, but quick ball saw Mowden backs out of shape too often for fast runners to make the tries.

However, Mowdens scrums was fantastic, especially with a front row which had not been tested before, but Robert’s trusty right leg ensured we still won our scrums. Great work for Dominic, JonnyO and CameronF, as well of course too RobertL.

The second half was a dream start with RobertL once again coming out of a maul with the ball. With Mowden working hard to work the ball through a couple of phases it was now Mowden’s turn to show some speed.

A newly shorn AlexF received the ball and after skipping his tackler was not going to be stopped. Obviously, not related to Samson …

Mowden had to still work hard, but Boro were not having the breakthroughs they had in the first half.

Despite some poor kicking, Mowden still did enough to clear their lines.

Boro made a strong push and a pick up 1m from the line, saw them dive over for a try.

This was to be their last try of the game as Mowden still worked hard and managed to do sufficient to keep Boro out.

Ball handling and tackling were much improved in the second half which was exactly what it needed to be.

A well deserved result for the second half, but the first half shows we need more communication in the backs and need to be closer to the breakdown to shut out organised teams.

RobertL was great at hooker with a swapping front row and took Forward of the Match.

Although the backs performed well with JonnyH, CiaranR and AlexF performing well, it was still felt that the CameronF performed great at prop and flanker and his hard tackling saw him substituted after a particularly hard knock from a Boro penalty. A braveheart performance saw CameronF take Backs Man of the Match (as a forward).

Well done to all players with ScottW, being noticeable when joining the rucks, he is always looking for the ball and he joins with some gusto.

Well done.