AFTER last weekend’s double success, Darlington Mowden Park will be hoping for more of the same when they host a second double-header in as many weeks tomorrow afternoon.

Both games are hugely significant, with Mowden taking on Moseley before DMP Sharks face Bristol Bears.

The opening game holds special significance for Mowden, with club captain Ollie Hodgson set to make his 150th league appearance for the club.

Ten years on from his debut against Bromsgrove, the Mowden number eight is delighted to be reaching the milestone.

“I’m very happy to be making my 150th appearance for Mowden this weekend," said Hodgson. "It’s taken me a good while, due to a few reasons, but I'm glad to get there.”

Hodgson’s 150th appearance comes against a Moseley side just two points ahead of Mowden in the National One table.

Looking ahead to tomorrow’s game, he added: “Moseley are a good team physically and have a lot of variety to their attack. They have strengthened their squad since we last played them and it should be a good test in the back row. It’s another opportunity, at home, for us to get a result and that’s what we will be focusing on.”

The second game of the day sees DMP Sharks hoping to notch their second win of the season against a strong Bristol Bears side. Last weekend’s victory over Wasps was the Sharks’ first since April 2020, when they beat tomorrow's visitors at Shaftesbury Park.

Centre Linzi Taylor was central to last weekend's victory, having scored her side’s sixth and final try late on, and Taylor was full of praise for her DMP team-mates:

“The Sharks squad is incredibly proud to have secured our first win of the season," said Taylor. "Every person who is a part of the team, in and out of the playing 23, was integral in our preparation leading up to the win against Wasps. We have constantly been building and improving in each session and game.”

Tomorrow, Sharks take on a Bristol side they’ve had some success against in recent years, winning in two of Bristol’s four trips to the Arena to date.

“We typically put up a good fight against Bristol, so we are excited to see how we play coming off the back of last week’s win," added Taylor.

"We know that they will have plenty of attacking and physical threats across the field.

"If we can manage to defend how we did in the first half against Exeter and attack with the passion we had against Wasps, it should lead to a very exciting game."