A thrilling match that could have gone either way was decided in Darlington Mowden Park’s favour by a last minute try while Rosslyn Park were down to 14 men. Park started without Mike Macfarlane or either of the Ellis brothers in the back row, lost scrum half Jack Gash to an early injury then later on his replacement Russ Weir also had to retire from the fray leaving centre Harry Leonard to busk it in that position.


Despite their travails the visitors were for long periods the better side. After some initial sparring a sensational ten minute spell rocked the home side. Park showed their intent by hammering a penalty to the home 22. They could not immediately press home the advantage, but returned to the attack and on 10 minutes took a Mowden defensive scrum against the head and number 8 Dan Laventure went over for his first try since joining Park from Wimbledon in the summer. Fly half Greg Lound’s conversion attempt was charged down.


Adam Frampton scores for Park

Four minutes later visiting centre Connor Hayhow found himself in space and sprinted down the left wing to score out wide, Lound converting for 12-0.

Darlington threw everything into attack but Park made their tackles count and fashioned a super move of their own that saw winger Benji Marfo go in out wide, Lound converting for 19-0 on 20 minutes.

Mowden showed why they are favourites for the title this season with a rousing comeback that brought the crowd to their feet. A great counter-attack saw left winger Brendan Asher-Wood exploit space on the right to score, converted by fly half Warren Seals for 19-7 on 23 minutes.
Four minutes later it was right wing Jordy Hop who streaked up the same wing, again converted by Seals for 19-14.

The home side were now rampant and only some fine tackling kept them at bay, though the visitors still looked a threat given a chance to break. As the interval beckoned home full back Chris Georgiou came into the attack to score out wide on the right to bring the scores level at 19-19.

It all looked very ominous for Rosslyn Park when Mowden took the lead for the first time on 42 minutes, Seals touching down and converting his own effort for 26-19.

However, Park were in no mood to surrender and began to get on top again. Mowden defended well but could not stop full back Henry Robinson finding a way over the line to score against his former club to some good-natured booing from the home fans. Lound converted for 26-26.
Play was even between two excellent teams, but it was the home side who broke the deadlock with a Seals penalty on 65 minutes.

Park came back on the attack and grabbed an excellent try through lock Adam Frampton, Lound converting to snatch back the lead at 33-29.

It looked as if Park had pulled off a stunning victory, but Mowden dug deep and launched a massive attack in defence of which Marfo received a yellow card on 79 minutes. Replacement Josh Hall got over from the restart for 34-35 and there was no time to come back.

Rosslyn Park will be disappointed to have lost a match they came so close to winning, it is doubtful whether many teams will leave the Northern Echo Stadium this season with two bonus points and having scored five tries.

Park: Robinson; Edwards, Hayhow, Leonard, Marfo; Lound; Gash; Nwakor, Vaughan-Edwards, Doran-Jones; Frampton, Gillanders; Spencer, Barnard, Laventure.
Bench: Hughes, Wade, Mills, Weir, Munroe
Park scorers: Laventure (T), Hayhow (T), Marfo (T), Robinson (T), Frampton (T), Lound (4C)

Next Saturday it gets no easier for Park as they travel to Blackheath for what promises to be a hard-fought local Derby. Blackheath have made a sound start to the season winning away matches at Esher by 36-7 and Plymouth Albion by 21-20. They slipped at home to Old Elthamians by10-21, but in their last home match they beat title-favourites Darlington Mowden Park by 15-0. Last Saturday Blackheath lost 33-22 at Ampthill.

Last season Park gained a draw in the equivalent fixture and expect to have to dig deep to equal or better that result.

Charlie Addiman

Images: David Whittam

October 1, 2018