U14 - MOWDEN PASS 100 TRY MARK IN COMPREHENSIVE VICTORY

In perfect conditions for open rugby and with the sun on their backs Mowden showed their fitness, mobility and ball-handling skills scoring nine tries without reply that more than made up for an unlucky defeat in October last year.

Absentees from the forwards through injuries (including broken fingers and bad backs) and other engagements (chasing a small ball around a field with a curly stick) left Mowden with only a bare eight regular pack members available. Against a larger and much heavier set of Blaydon forwards the scrums were going to be difficult. However the front row of Connor Noble, Ryan Hall and Simon Shepherd supported by Michael Hall and Dom Gibson at second row worked hard to keep the shape of the scrum. This allowed open-side flanker Joe Craggs and Tom Lawson to assist the backs in pressurising the Blaydon back line. With stand-in flanker Sam Lorimer tackling anything that came blind-side, even though Blaydon won good ball from the scrums they often ended up defending ten or fifteen metres behind the scrum. Mowden were then able to use their pace about the field to create opportunities.

Mowden almost scored from the first move of the game when the start wasn’t collected by Blaydon allowing Mowden to steal the ball. A swift release down the line, with Elliot Wanless up on the outside nearly resulted in a try as Mark Harsley looped around to create an overlap. However a fine covering tackle had him in touch just short of the line.

Joe stole Blaydon’s ball from the lineout and the ball was shipped out to John Payne. He handed off two tacklers and blitzed through a third setting up an inside pass to Jonny Teague to score. Unfortunately, John had just stepped into touch and the try was not awarded.

Before the spectators could catch their breath Mowden got over the line in almost identical circumstances! By making the ball do the work across the pitch Mowden moved the heavier Blaydon forwards about. Mowden’s forwards showed their mobility as first Connor and then Simon got to the breakdown first to win ball. Eventually Blaydon were sufficiently out of position for John to make another break passing inside at the last moment for the supporting Jonny to score near the left touchline. Tamer Fuat miscued the conversion.

However Tamer nearly scored from the kick off. As no-one claimed the ball it came loose and Mark H set off on a fast sprint with Tamer in support but again good covering by Blaydon prevented a further score.

The next try came from a penalty. In a well-rehearsed move Gordon Thompson took a tap to Tom who passed to Joe. Joe made good ground before releasing to John to power over for Mowden’s second try. Tamer's excellent conversion attempt from near the touchline saw the ball sail between the posts. 12-0 to Mowden.

John was the next to score. Although Blaydon was seeing plenty of the ball tough tackling from Simon, Joe and Tom meant they weren’t gaining ground and their backs became static and under pressure. Inevitably the pressure told and spilled ball was pounced on by Sam. Mark Wilson saw a gap and dived through before setting the ball down the line for John to score near the right touchline. Another fine kick by Tamer added two more points.

John completed his hat-trick with almost the last move of the half. Joe won another line-out and made off downfield. Gordon dug the ball out of the ruck, passing to Mark W. Tom was supporting in the line creating the extra man and John went over, running round to give Tamer and easier conversion that he did not miss.

In the final minutes of the first half Mark W was injured tackling his much larger opposite number resulting a re-shuffle as Jonny moved to fly-half, Mark H in at inside centre and Ollie Cooper coming on as winger.

Half time Mowden 26 Blaydon 0

John was rested at half time and Matty Warr came on.

Almost immediately Mowden had the score ticking over. Mowden stole another lineout and Mark H made a break down the left hand side skilfully drawing his man before releasing to Tamer to score. Unfortunately the ball toppled as Tamer ran up to make the conversion.

Blaydon certainly hadn’t give up and their larger pack still gave them plenty of ball finally winning a penalty on the half way line. They took a quick tap and the fly-half ran through a lacklustre defence and looked all set to score in the corner. However he hadn’t counted on Elliot who flew across the pitch like an Exocet and before he knew it the fly-half was 5 metres in touch without the ball. A superb try-saving tackle to keep the score sheet clean.

The Mowden coaches must have said something ‘encouraging’ to the players because there were no further lapses in a superb defensive performance.

Dom Gibson, who had tackled his heart out throughout the game with some shudderingly big hits, came off as Mark W came back on, Jonny moving to flanker and Sam moving to his more familiar second row position.

Blaydon had their best period of the game and held off Mowden for some period of time. They began to retain some possession and tried to make headway through their big forwards but Michael and Ryan put in some crunching tackles to prevent any momentum building up. During one of Mowden’s attacks Mark W thought he saw an opportunity and with no lack of courage tried to run through Blaydon’s biggest player. Mark W went off injured. Jonny returned to fly-half and Matty went in as flanker with John returning on the wing. Shortly after Connor, having rucked and mauled with great success all game went off with a shoulder injury and Dom came back on.

If all the injury-enforced position switches didn’t confuse Mowden it didn't help Blaydon either as the Mowden players were able to play out of their normal positions and maintain an overall team performance. This showed, as soon afterwards Elliot joined the line and profited from another stolen lineout to score. Tamer made the conversion to move the score to 38-0.

Mowden scored immediately from the restart as Joe caught the ball and ran through the defence. He was finally stopped just short of the line but gave a short pass to Sam who barged over close to the posts. Tamer again made the conversion.

It was all Mowden now and Ollie combining with Mark H nearly scored in the left corner but to Blaydon’s credit they were still making it difficult to score and Ollie was tackled and the ball turned over. In further position changes Jonny and Mark H swapped positions.

With time ticking away Mowden celebrated scoring their 100th try of the season with what was probably also the best worked try of the season. Mowden were awarded a penalty on the half way line fifteen metres in from the right touchline. Gordon took the tap and fired a long pass to Tom who fired an even longer one to Joe who caught it well. With Mowden’s dummy runners confusing the Blaydon defence Joe hurled an almighty pass to Elliot sprinting down the left wing. Across almost the whole pitch in three passes gave Elliot the space he needed to score his second try, Mowden's 100th and to bring the points tally to fifty in the game.

In the final play Jonny scored his second try. Further good lineout ball gave John the room to sprint down the line. He was tackled just short of the line. Jonny pounced on the recycled ball and dived over for the 101st try of the season. In the last kick of the game, Tamer was very close with a difficult conversion as the ball shaved the outside of the left post.

Final Score Mowden 55 Blaydon 0

It would have been impossible to pick a man of the match as all 17 players had great individual games and any of them could have justifiably claimed it. A great display of 15–man rugby and how to defeat bigger heavier teams through speed and mobility. Congratulations especially to those who played out of their regular positions and still turned in performances for the team.

Next Sunday (3rd April) there is no match but there will be training in advance of the evening/floodlit game against Darlington on Wednesday 6th April