U14 - MOWDEN WIN IN TOUGH LOCAL DERBY

In the best supported game of the season so far both sets of supporters enjoyed an exciting game on the Darlington first team pitch that was played with great spirit by all the players despite the intensity of a derby game. Playing under floodlights for the second half added to the atmosphere and the noise of the spectators made this a special game.

Darlington belied their recent results and gave a real fighting performance and it was only Mowden’s excellent defence that kept their score to two unconverted tries.

Although no taller than the Mowden pack the Darlington lads were heavier. The front row tussle was an immense battleground all game. Mowden starting front row of Connor Noble, Ryan Hall and Simon Shepherd displayed courage and real commitment and strength to come out even in a gritty nose-to-nose battle.

Of the two sides, Darlington started the better. Mowden were clearly ‘nervy’ and errors gave Darlington the advantage in the early minutes of the game. Loose passing saw Darlington with a line-out on the Mowden 22. Darlington caught the ball and set up a strong maul that moved them to within 5 metres of the Mowden line. Good defence saw Mowden turn over the ball only to knock on and set up an attacking scrum for Darlington. The ball went loose from the scrum and Darlington moved the ball first left and then right to create an overlap and in for the first score of the game. The kick was just missed.

If anything Mowden’s nerves increased and from the kick off Darlington produced a strong maul that marched downfield as Mowden hung off and failed to commit men. Despite losing 15 metres, somehow Tom Lawson managed to wrestle the ball away from Darlington and Mowden set up their first real attack of the game with a simple back line move that gave Mark Harsley some room and he was unlucky to be held up just short of the line. However good support by Jonny Teague won the ball for Mowden and Gordon Thompson sent the ball left for Elliot Wanless, up in the line, to go over for a try. Tamer Fuat had brought his kicking boots with him and slotted a difficult kick to put Mowden ahead.

Darlington were keen to be up at our back line. Unfortunately they were too keen and were penalised for offside couple of times to give Mowden an attacking chance inside the Darlington half. A tap penalty was swiftly sent out to John Payne on the right wing. With a bit of space with which to work John went outside his opposite number and round under the posts for Mowden’s second try. Tamer made no mistake with the conversion.

Both defences were performing well. Mowden were unable to display the slick handling shown against Blaydon but with Mark Wilson, Jonny, Joe Craggs and Tamer putting pressure on the Darlington back line the game became very tense as both sides forced errors and tried to capitalise on them. On one such occasion, Darlington were given a penalty for offside inside the Mowden 22. Their heavy forwards charged forward but good tackling from Michael Hall and Sam Lorimer halted the drive inches from the line. Max Harrison used his upper body strength to rip the ball away and Elliot made a good clearance kick. An audible sigh of relief escaped from the Mowden supporters.

To the further relief of the away supporters, Mowden began to exert some pressure of their own forcing penalties to be given away by the Darlington team. Mowden gained ground and began to open up some opportunities by moving the ball wide. After a good move with backs and forwards in the line John had another chance to show his capabilities on the right wing. Although covered by scrambling defence, John ran round one man and through two others to score his second under the posts. Again Tamer did not miss.

As Mowden’s travelling band of supporters began to relax a bit Darlington took the bit between their teeth to create more gnawed fingernails and scored with the last move of the first half. In a number of their own scrums, although Mowden won the strike the ball seemed to be kicked back into the Darlington half of the scrum. Whether this was pressure from the Darlington forwards or errors by Mowden it was hard to tell but Darlington were determined to make the most of it. In a scrum that Darlington won against the head on the Mowden 22 they quickly moved the ball left to the blindside, created an overlap and put the ball down in the corner. The distance was too far for the Darlington kicker and the ref blew for half time.

Half time Darlington 10 Mowden 21

From the start of the second half Mowden began to believe in themselves and but for a couple of marginal forward passes could have put the game beyond doubt in the opening 5 minutes.

The front row was not the pace for the faint-hearted and Simon who had given his all in an epic battle was rested and Dominic Gibson came on to continue the campaign. He was joined in the front row by James Maclintock as hooker. Callum Oakes, returning from a couple of week’s injury, added his power to the second row. In a back line shuffle Matty Warr and Ollie Cooper came on. Then in an injury enforced move, Tamer went to full back and John moved to outside centre. However, as has been seen before, the all-round skills of many of the Mowden players meant that the team performance was undiminished.

Again defences were on top and neither side was able to make much headway until finally Mowden made the game more certain. Ollie picked up a loose ball and ran through a couple of tackles to gain ground. Jonny, Tamer and Tom (who worked hard in ruck and maul all game) rucked over and the ball came out Mowden’s side. Mark Wilson, now playing at scrum half, sent the ball out right. Joe straightened the line before releasing to Matty who made it almost to the line before being tackled but passed to Joe who scored 15 meters in from the touchline. Tamer made another excellent kick to put Mowden ahead 28-10.

But Darlington had not given up and pressed hard to the Mowden line. A couple of penalties for offside gave them the chance to batter the line with their big guys. But Mowden’s defence was heroic and just as the spectators thought Darlington were about to score Alfie Wilson emerged with the ball. Max took the ball inside his own 22 and burst past the defending winger to run the length of the pitch to score with spectators cheering and defenders trailing in his wake. It would have been the try of the match but unfortunately he had put a foot on the touchline and the game was brought back for a line-out.

Shortly afterwards the ref blew his whistle for the end of the game and the Mowden supporters were able to breathe again and heart rates returned to normal! The cheers and applause from both sets of supporters was reward for both teams' performance in a tough, hard-fought and good tempered game. Rugby as it's meant to be played.

Final score Darlington 10 Mowden 28

With so much riding on a local derby this was never going to be a spectacle of flowing open rugby. But if it lacked in skill it more than made up for it in passion and commitment that left both sets of supporters exhausted from expending so much nervous energy. A great performance by all 21 players and a well-deserved victory! It seems churlish to make a criticism but it could have been easier (at least on the spectators’ nerves) if, when we had done the hard work and won the heel, we weren’t so keen to boot the ball back into the opposition side of the scrum! That said, no-one could have asked for more effort and determination. The tackling was immense and fearless by forwards and backs alike and probably won the game for us. Well done to all!

Next game is at home to Thirsk on 10th April.