Darlington Mowden Park kicked off their pre-season fixtures with a trip to Sedgley Park on Saturday. Organised on short notice after the withdrawal of planned opponents Hawick, the game consisted of three periods made up of two 30 minutes and one 20 minute. Both sides rotated heavily throughout the afternoon, handing much needed gametime to their respective squads.

The hosts opened the scoring through Rob Birtwell, before a breakaway second from Alex Benbattouche. Former DMP fly half Warren Seals converted the first, leaving Sedgley Park 12-0 up after the first period of play.

The home side continued their strong start with a third from Ollie Glasse, but Mowden grew into the game in the second period to get themselves back in the game. First Akula Dressa, who was a regular for the Elizabethans last season, dotted down after some sustained pressure. Nathan Pope then edged Sedgley further ahead, but Mowden soon had their second as Matty Siddle barged his way over the line from a driving maul. The end-to end nature of the game continued when Rhys Henderson scored out wide for the hosts to end the second period.

The final 20 minutes was perhaps Mowden's strongest, as their set piece began to click and gain the upper hand in the scrum in particular. DMP's third try came from Liam Checksfield, with the centre pouncing on a loose ball to sprint clear from inside his own half. Sedgley hit back through a second for Henderson, but Mowden had the final score as their ascendancy in the scrum saw a penalty try awarded in the final minutes.

Asked about Saturday’s game, Forwards Coach Joe Cain said: “Was good to see a lot of new faces in a Mowden shirt on Saturday, with plenty of new signings getting game time this weekend.”

“Both sides played some good rugby throughout the game and Sedgley probably dominated possession and off the back of it had more chances to score. We had some really good defensive sets and it was good to see everyone getting stuck in.”

“Moving forward to Hull we’d like to see us with ball In hand a bit more and able to see our attack in full swing!”

A big thanks to Sedgley Park for hosting us in what was a very useful 80 minutes for both sides. Mowden now return to the Arena next Saturday as they host Hull in our second game of pre-season, with free entry to the 3pm kick off available for all supporters.