Post by Jamie Crawford on Aug 23, 2016 13:33:00 GMT
We end of trio of pre-season games against National One team Darlington Mowden Park after our initial loss to Premiership team Falcons, then our 20-16 victory over Canada Rugby’s select XV or ‘A’ team. It is comprised of Capped Cannucks and up-and-coming ‘Canadian Premiership’ talent (or equivalent to…).
Lessons were learned against the Falcons which is the aim of pre-season games, the only negative is the ‘few-week’ absence of Captain Michael Hills.
The Rugby Canada game last Saturday highlighted that wholesale changes at the break can interrupt momentum, last Saturday the substitutions were phased. The Knights seemed to be in the ascendancy in the first forty with nearly all of the play being in the Canadian half but the Cannucks defended resolutely and it took a kick to the left wing against the run of play to the right for Tyson to score against a Canadian defence that was overloaded to the right and left a large overlap to the left; which they were unable to shore-up. Fortunately it was a good bounce that enabled Tyson to collect and score with ease, great vision by Simon Humberstone to kick to Tyson.
As the website said, “The Knights held off a determined and physical Canada side to record the first win of pre-season in front of a healthy crowd at Castle Park.
In a game that didn’t at all feel like a pre-season friendly, the Knights outscored the Canucks by three tries to one to record a 20-16 victory with all of the 26 man squad getting time on the field...”
N.B. That was the first win from one game, a great start for an unbeaten home record (even though pre-season games don’t count!)
“Darlington Mowden Park RFC is a rugby union club in Darlington, County Durham. They currently play in National League One, the third level of the RFU's league pyramid; one tier below us. They achieved promotion on 3 May 2014 after beating Ampthill in a promotion play-off, the game went to extra time after finishing 25–25 in normal time. Promotion was confirmed when Zylon McGaffin on his final appearance for the club scored a try in the 3rd-minute of added time. Mowden Park's former name, Darlington Grammar School Old Boys, was changed when they moved to Yiewsley Drive in Mowden. DMP relocated to the Darlington Arena, a 25,000 seat stadium in the town, known as Northern Echo Arena for sponsorship reasons, along with 17 acres of adjacent land and an option on a further 20 acres. They played their first game at the new stadium on 2 February 2013, in front of a crowd of over 1000, comprehensively defeating Bromsgrove 62–7 in a National League 2 North league game.” (Wikipedia)
Darlington MP finished seventh in National One last season, four points behind Rosslyn Park. Richmond won the division and will play in the Championship this season. Darlington MP lost by one point to Richmond last November at the Northern Echo Arena and then lost 14-7 at the Athletic Ground in Richmond last February. To summarise Richmond only scored eight points more than Park scored against them over two games last season.
Darlington MP beat Hawick 14-33 in their first pre-season game. Hawick RFC finished the BT Scottish Premiership 2015/16 season in sixth place, winning 9 out of the 18 league games played. Next up was a stiffer test against Scottish Premiership title holders Ayr. In the BT Scottish Premiership (2015/16) season, Ayr RFC played a total of 18 league games, winning 14 of them.
Ayr beat Darlington MP 22-25 with a last-minute try. MOTM was awarded scrum half Tim Duchesne.
Darlington’s first National One league fixture is against Hull Ionians.
COYK
DONNY, DONNY, DONNY…
Lessons were learned against the Falcons which is the aim of pre-season games, the only negative is the ‘few-week’ absence of Captain Michael Hills.
The Rugby Canada game last Saturday highlighted that wholesale changes at the break can interrupt momentum, last Saturday the substitutions were phased. The Knights seemed to be in the ascendancy in the first forty with nearly all of the play being in the Canadian half but the Cannucks defended resolutely and it took a kick to the left wing against the run of play to the right for Tyson to score against a Canadian defence that was overloaded to the right and left a large overlap to the left; which they were unable to shore-up. Fortunately it was a good bounce that enabled Tyson to collect and score with ease, great vision by Simon Humberstone to kick to Tyson.
As the website said, “The Knights held off a determined and physical Canada side to record the first win of pre-season in front of a healthy crowd at Castle Park.
In a game that didn’t at all feel like a pre-season friendly, the Knights outscored the Canucks by three tries to one to record a 20-16 victory with all of the 26 man squad getting time on the field...”
N.B. That was the first win from one game, a great start for an unbeaten home record (even though pre-season games don’t count!)
“Darlington Mowden Park RFC is a rugby union club in Darlington, County Durham. They currently play in National League One, the third level of the RFU's league pyramid; one tier below us. They achieved promotion on 3 May 2014 after beating Ampthill in a promotion play-off, the game went to extra time after finishing 25–25 in normal time. Promotion was confirmed when Zylon McGaffin on his final appearance for the club scored a try in the 3rd-minute of added time. Mowden Park's former name, Darlington Grammar School Old Boys, was changed when they moved to Yiewsley Drive in Mowden. DMP relocated to the Darlington Arena, a 25,000 seat stadium in the town, known as Northern Echo Arena for sponsorship reasons, along with 17 acres of adjacent land and an option on a further 20 acres. They played their first game at the new stadium on 2 February 2013, in front of a crowd of over 1000, comprehensively defeating Bromsgrove 62–7 in a National League 2 North league game.” (Wikipedia)
Darlington MP finished seventh in National One last season, four points behind Rosslyn Park. Richmond won the division and will play in the Championship this season. Darlington MP lost by one point to Richmond last November at the Northern Echo Arena and then lost 14-7 at the Athletic Ground in Richmond last February. To summarise Richmond only scored eight points more than Park scored against them over two games last season.
Darlington MP beat Hawick 14-33 in their first pre-season game. Hawick RFC finished the BT Scottish Premiership 2015/16 season in sixth place, winning 9 out of the 18 league games played. Next up was a stiffer test against Scottish Premiership title holders Ayr. In the BT Scottish Premiership (2015/16) season, Ayr RFC played a total of 18 league games, winning 14 of them.
Ayr beat Darlington MP 22-25 with a last-minute try. MOTM was awarded scrum half Tim Duchesne.
Darlington’s first National One league fixture is against Hull Ionians.
COYK
DONNY, DONNY, DONNY…
