FOLLOWING recent County representative matches, Mowden were back to full strength travelling away to Hartlepool.
They could not have wished for a better start to this contest. Hartlepool fumbled the ball from the kick off and had players caught offside in the resulting loose ruck. Mowden took advantage from a set penalty move, with Chris Dodd scoring between the posts, converted by Mark Zissler after only 40 seconds. Hartlepool started to pressure Mowden, and it became a particularly close contest between both sets of forwards with excellent drives and pick-ups by both teams. Hartlepool, however, gave away a penalty 15 metres from their line, for coming into the side of a ruck. Ross Batty caught them out by taking a quick penalty and drove over for Mowden's second try, converted by Zissler. With five minutes left in the first half, Hartlepool had a 22 metre drop out which Andrew Woodend took cleanly as full back. He linked with the backs and Adam Hunt chipped the ball over the Hartlepool defensive line. Chris Dodd then ran through and picked up the loose ball and broke two attempted tackles to score Mowden's third converted try.
The second half saw Hartlepool very much on the attack, with both the slope and wind in their favour. Mowden's defence was firm, holding off numerous drives within their own 22 and eventually an individual break by Jason Elliott took him into Hartlepool's half where the ball went loose. Hartlepool gathered this loose ball only to have Ross Batty steal it in the maul and break free to run in Mowden's fourth try. With five minutes to go Hartlepool scored a deserved converted try, after a superb rolling maul by the forwards. The final score 26-7 to Darlington Mowden Park.
Billingham Ladies 29-0
Darlington Ladies
Having beaten Billingaham Ladies in their home League fixture before Christmas 25-0, DRFC Ladies were confident that they could win this away tie. From the kick off DRFC pushed hard, running in to Billingham territory with Stacey Walker carrying the ball well and proving difficult to stop.
When she was tackled the ball moved on to Amanda Campbell who was herself tackled and unfortunately injured as she went down to the ground. An ambulance was called and the game halted until Amanda could be safely moved from the pitch.
When the game was re-started it was obvious the DRFC Ladies were shaken by the injury to their teammate and the momentum they had from the start of the game was gone as they soon conceded a try and conversion.
Over the course of the remainder of the game they approached the home teams try line on several occasions but could not convert their possession in to points. Billingham, to their credit, stuck to their guns and managed three more tries, two more conversions and a penalty. In a game where the DRFC thoughts were not on the pitch captain Helen Large stood out as the best player for her side with an excellent performance at scrum half. With a question mark over their last three League games of the season DRFC Ladies are now looking forward to their March Tour and would all like to wish Amanda a speedy recovery.
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