Darlington Mowden Park produced one of their best performances of the season to seal an impressive win over 2nd place Cinderford at the Arena on Saturday. Garry Law’s side restricted the visitors to a single converted try in defence and handled the adverse weather conditions beautifully in attack to clinch a well-deserved win heading into the final game before Christmas against Leeds next weekend.

The game kicked off in pouring rain which continued throughout the afternoon, making handling tough for both sides. Mowden got the better of the opening exchanges, keeping hold of the ball well and playing in the right areas of the field. Cinderford were twice penalised in their own half at the breakdown, with Warren Seals slotting 2 penalties to give DMP an early lead. Their lead didn’t last long however. A penalty from the restart gave Cinderford good field position, and hooker Nathan Taylor crashed over from the resulting lineout to give the visitors a 1 point lead following Morgan’s conversion. Seals then restored the Mowden lead with his third penalty of the afternoon, before further penalties against the visitors saw captain Harry Hone sent to the bin. Mowden’s fly half Seals then added a fourth penalty, before DMP almost extended their lead further on the eve of half time. Callum Mackenzie profited from a Cinderford knock on to break from deep and find Ben Frankland on his outside, with the outside centre racing away before being adjudged to have knocked on in the act of scoring under pressure from the visiting full back. A big feature of the first half was Mowden’s discipline, only conceding a single penalty inside their own half to restrict Cinderford’s scoring chances. Half time score 12-7.

Cinderford started the second half on the front foot with a series of attacking lineouts in DMP’s 22. DMP’s maul defence held firm however, and it was Mowden who scored next on the 50 minute mark. A break from Seals took play up to the 22 before the South African found Craggs on his outside. Mowden recycled possession and the ball was spun wide to Freddie Lockwood who shrugged off the Cinderford defence to dive over after a 5 man overlap. Seals converted to extend the lead to 12. DMP’s kicking game then really came into play, with Cinderford’s back three struggle to gather a series of high bombs from Seals. The decisive try then came after a Cinderford kick sailed out on the full, giving Mowden a lineout 30m out. Mowden strung together phases well and line breaks from Will Jones and Lockwood took play into the 22, before Euan McKirdy dummied and sniped over from close range. Seals maintained his 100% record with the boot to stretch the lead to 19 points with just 10 minutes remaining. Both sides had chances late on; Lockwood was hauled down just short of the line after an interception in midfield before Cinderford winger Ed Sheldon broke clear from his own half only to stumble in sight of the line before being dragged into touch by the covering McKirdy. Despite being reduced to 14 late on after a yellow for McKirdy, Mowden’s defence held firm to round off an important home win. Home captain Ollie Hodgson was awarded Man of the Match after a brilliant all round performance, and in truth a number of DMP players could have won the award on a day when the whole squad contributed well.

Mowden now travel to Leeds Tykes next weekend in their final game before a 2 week break for Christmas. Their next home game is on Saturday 15th January when they take on Blackheath.

On behalf of the club we'd like to thank everyone who braved the arctic conditions to support the team on Saturday and throughout the year. Your support is hugely appreciated by everyone at the club, and we hope to see many of you down at Leeds next weekend to round off 2021.