This was so much better by Park. A nervous start saw Darlington Mowden Park take the lead with a penalty on three minutes. But the visitors’ discipline under pressure let them down and four confidently struck penalties by Scott Sneddon saw Park establish a 12-3 lead after 25 minutes, which they held until half time.

The visitors made a big effort at the start of the second half, and scored an early try out wide hooker by Santiago Socio and minutes later a second Caolan Ryan penalty reduced the lead to 12-11.

Park stepped up a gear. England Under-18 scrum half Rory Brand, making his debut from the bench, took a pass from Hugo Ellis to scamper away for a super try in the corner, converted by Sneddon for 18-11.

The home side now dominated and a well-drilled rolling maul saw replacement hooker Adam Bellamy touch down, converted for 25-11with four minutes remaining.

Mowden broke away to score an unconverted try out wide, but Park swept back and put the match beyond doubt when Brand seized upon a poor pass from Mowden to scamper behind the posts to cap a promising debut. Sneddon added the extras for a final score of 36 - 16

Park: Robinson; Kohler, Henderson, Howley-Berridge, Vincent; Sneddon; Weir; Lilley, Piper, Lovell; Inglis, Spivey; Frampton, Broadbent, Ellis.
Bench: Bellamy, McGrath, Harries, Brand, Leonard.
Park scorers: Brand (2T), Bellamy (T), Sneddon 5P, 3C)

Rosslyn Park forwards Coach, Kieran Power, was a happy man, “It was a pleasing performance as we set out simple clear directives for the players to execute and they did which resulted in positive outcomes for us.

“Darlington are a good side but the whole week was focused on ourselves and how we can move forward as a team in a positive nature and be excited about the style of rugby we want to play”.

On Saturday Park travel to the Midlands in search of more league points. Power said, “Loughborough will be a fast paced game next week but we will again focus on ourselves and how we can improve on the Darlington performance

Charlie Addiman

October 3, 2016