Well done to all the Under 9s who turned out at the Yarm festival this Sunday. We had 13 players in attendance. Ben Clarke, Matthew Raine, Charlie Cater, Freddie Cater, Kyle Tomlins, Jack Rafferty, Harry Hutchinson, Tom Van Niekirk, Lee Robinson, Kieran Walsh, Henry Wright and 2 new additions to the squad William Pounds and Samuel Croslegh. All players contributed in what was to be a tough but fun day of rugby.

We were drawn against Hartlepool Rovers, Durham and Billingham. The first game was against Hartlepool Rovers who were a man down, so Matthew and Tom stepped in to play a half each for the opposition. Mowden were on top in the first half with tries from Kyle, Henry, Freddie and Charlie. Too many defensive mistakes in the second half resulted in the opposition coming out on top with Hartlepool taking the match with 6 tries to 5, although 2 of their tries were scored by our very own Tom.

In the second game we came up against Durham. The first half was very even, with both teams displaying some excellent rugby in defence and attack. Kyle and Lee were on the score sheet for Mowden with Durham leading 3 tries to 2 at half time. In the second half Durham were by far the better team, they proved very hard to break down and when they had the chance to attack they made sure they took their chances. At the final whistle Durham won by 8 tries to 2.

Our boys had to wait for the completion of 2 other games before their final match against Billingham, This gave us the chance to regroup and go back over the important things we had been covering in training. What a turn around this turned out to be. The defensive work was excellent and the team took the chance to score whenever they got the opportunity. With a great hat trick from Henry and tries from Kieran, Kyle, Lee and Tom(sorry if I have missed anyone) Mowden came out victors with 11 tries to 2.

There were ups and downs throughout, however, it was certainly good to finish on a high.