DMP travelled to Barnard Castle looking to secure a big victory and blood some of the newer players against an inexperienced Barney side.
The early exchanges saw DMP hold their shape in both attack and defence, compete at the rucks and support the ball carrier and doing the basics well saw them cross the line after 4 mins with Coukham going in for his first of the season after the ball was put through hands. (Converted by Furness) 0-7
DMP continued to dominate but couldn’t quite get over the line until Graham went round the defence and over in the corner. (Conversion missed) 0-12
With 15 mins gone and DMP cruising Morrison extended the lead crashing over from short range. (Converted by Furness) 0-19.
From the first phase of play following the kick off Maull broke straight through the centre of the Barney defence at halfway to go in under the posts (Converted by Furness) 0-26.
Two mins later Coukham went over for his second of the match (Converted by Furness) 0-33.
DMP remained in complete control and were unlucky to not add further tries before the half ended.
Half Time Barney 0 – 33 DMP
The second half started more positively for Barney as they began to put some phases together. They eventually broke down the side line to go over in the corner (conversion missed) 5-33
DMP responded with some sustained pressure deep in Barney territory before Graham went over for his second. (Converted by Furness) 5-40
The match evened itself put with play becoming scrappy with lots of errors from both teams.
DMP began to lose their shape and miss tackles, with last ditch take downs from Graham keeping Barney out. Meanwhile DMP attacks were coming to nothing as one out runners were not receiving the support they had in first half.
With five minutes remaining DMP switched off completely and let in 3 very soft tries through weak tackling and bunching (one converted) 22-40
Final Score
Darlington Mowden Park 40 – 22 Barnard Castle
This result felt more like a defeat than a victory considering how badly the team performed at the end of the match. It made good the first half performance seem like a distant memory.
It was good to get some of the newer players some more game time and some new names on the score sheet.
Hopefully everyone will learn something from this match.
Man of the Match went to Max Graham for his 2 tries and excellent cover tackles. Well done Max.