Before the game we would have undoubtedly settled for a losing bonus point but in the end we were left disappointed not to come away with more and wishing we could have turned just one of a couple of great opportunities into tries.
The fact we played half of the second period without one flanker thanks to back-to-back yellow cards underlines the effort put in by all the players and even after conceding 17 second half points we fought back and could have won the game at the end, eventually being held up after a number of surges for the line.
It was Mowden who had the best of the early play with fly-half Grant Connon going close after a break by Chris Peace but his attempted off-load went forward and we were able to clear. Connon then had a penalty attempt come back off the post and that seemed to be our cue to get into the game.
We dominated possession and territory for the rest of the half with Stu Waites slotting 3 penalties from 3 attempts to keep the scoreboard ticking over. His first came on 12 minutes when a good rolling maul set up an attack which eventually led to a penalty just inside the 22. Andrew Foreman tapped quickly but was tackled instantly and the extra 10 metres made it easy for Waites.
Scott Butcher came closest to a try with a great run up the right wing, stepping inside his opposite number and barging trough the tackle of the full-back only to be stopped a couple of metres short by the final covering defender.
The hosts got briefly back on the front foot approaching the half hour with a chip through from scrum-half Todd Harrison being gathered by Paul Shepherd who looked like scoring but was again stopped short and we earned a penalty for not releasing. Connon had another shot at goal on 28 minutes, this time drifting wide of the posts.
Mowden were intent on throwing the ball around and at times it was causing them more harm than good with some wild looping passes allowing us to put pressure on. A good clearance to touch from Waites was quickly taken by full-back Max Connon but his long pass was knocked on and from the resulting scrum we earned a penalty for standing up and Waites again made no mistake.
Luke Watson saw yellow for not rolling away on 38 minutes but was followed off just two minutes later by Mowden skipper Junior Fagalilo for persistent infringements, both decisions looking fairly harsh in a game that hadn't been dominated by the referee's whistle.
There was still time for Waites to add his third penalty, three minutes into stoppage time but again it was so close to being more. Mowden had turned the ball over inside their own 22 and for a moment looked to move the ball along the backline for a breakaway. But Grant Connon was caught in two minds in the shadow of his own posts and gifted a pass to Greg Edwards who looked to be through for a try but was dragged down short and in the end we had to settle for the three points.
After a tremendous first half effort the half time team talk had to be all about not conceding points at the start of the second half but we couldn't have started it any worse. Mowden were immediately on the offensive and as they built pressure close to the line a mix-up in our defence allowed Harrison to slip over unchallenged from the side of a ruck and leave Connon an easy conversion.
The hosts were now looking far more dangerous on the attack and were again attacking just short of the line when Dan Boatman dove on a ball the referee adjudged still the be in the ruck and the captain was despatched to the sin-bin for 10 minutes. Connon was again wide with the resultant penalty leaving us still leading with 56 minutes played.
We extended that lead two minutes later with another Waites shot at goal, this time from a much tougher position, wide on the right, after Michael Taylor won the penalty with some great work at the breakdown. Unfortunately it was Taylor who'd be the next to be shown the yellow card, this time for a high tackle, just as Dan Boatman was about to return to the field. It proved to be a killer blow as just a minute later replacement Andy Tonkin barrelled his way just to the right of the posts, leaving Connon another easy conversion for the lead.
Connon extended that lead with a penalty 6 minutes from time but we still had an opportunity to win the game in the dying minutes. We earned penalties at two consecutive scrums in the Mowden 22, driving the home eight back, and then had a series of phases where we seemed to be inching closer and closer the line. Finally the referee's whistle was blown and his arm raised but it was for a Mowden penalty not a try and signalled the end of a valiant effort, fully deserving of the losing bonus point.
West: Waites, A Cheslin, Edwards, Watson, Butcher, G Foreman, A Foreman, Carr, Bailey, Coates, T Dixon, Davies, Taylor, D Boatman, Gilmour.
Pens: Waites 4
Yellow cards: Watson [38], D Boatman [55], Taylor [67]
Darlington Mowden Park: M Connon, Shepherd, Mitchell, Peace, Lister, G Connon, Harrison, Dixon, Fagalilo, Miller, Young, Schofield, Riley, Wishnowsky, Merton.
Reps: Appleby, Tonkin, Wilson
Tries: Harrison, Tonkin
Cons: Connon 2
Pen: Connon
Yellow card: Fagalilo [40]
Mowden Park 17 West 12
By El Pedro - December 4 2011Four from Four
A brave effort saw us come up just short at league leaders Mowden Park having led for the majority of the match through Stu Waites' boot but eventually succumbing to a try and penalty in the final 15 minutes.
Mowden Park 17 West 12
Posted by: Official West Hartlepool RFC (IP Logged)
Date: 04/12/2011 09:51
Re: Mowden Park 17 West 12
Posted by: Denny Dixon (IP Logged)
Date: 04/12/2011 14:52
Very unlucky West it seems just shows we are up ther with the best, if we just can turn such games our way. Nevertheless a welcome bonus point let us see waht we can do with Rossendale, the best always seems to bring out our best. 33 points at halfway, joint 6th and in the mix for anything up to 4th place it would seem. Doubling our points would see us certainly consolidated back in the National Leagues. Keep it up West!!!!!
Re: Mowden Park 17 West 12
Posted by: bang (IP Logged)
Date: 04/12/2011 16:37
DMPRFC 17 v WEST HARTLEPOOL RFC 12
By Kevin Robinson | Sunday 4th December 2011
The game turned out to be a thoroughly tight affair, as local derbies usually are, with both sides giving their all in the confrontations and plenty of talking points for the observer.
The home side started the brighter, attacking the visitors on both flanks, but to no avail as the West Hartlepool defence managed to keep the insurgents at bay.
The official had made it plain from the start that he would police the breakdown sternly and this turned out to be the area that both sides had problems with, resulting in a series of infringements and ultimately yellow cards throughout the game. However, there was time during the course of proceedings for some period of exciting play and a nail-biting finish.
After the visitors had absorbed the initial surge by the home side, they tried to mount their own attacks, mainly through their big forwards and rolling mauls seemed to be their preferred option, although none provided any decent opportunities anywhere near the red zone.
West Hartlepool did have a couple of scoring chances themselves, which came to nothing due to a combination of wrong options and covering defence.
Home fly half Grant Connon had a few opportunities to slot over penalties, but failed to master the swirling wind and chances to add to the scoreboard came and went.
Yellow cards were issued to the visiting centre and the home skipper for repeated infringements at the breakdown, which meant a bit of re-shuffling, but nothing at that stage that affected the game.
From similar opportunities, the visiting full back and kicker was more on song, slotting three for the only scores of the first half (0 – 9)
The break for oranges was always going to be an opportunity for the home side to take stock of what had happened before and to re-iterate that if the pace could be upped, the visitors may succumb.
So it was no surprise when this occurred, as DMPRFC started after oranges as they had the game, introducing pace into the game and this time with success. A series of rucks were created, sucking in the visiting defence, allowing scrum half Todd Harrison an opportunity to see the gap, which he took near to the posts (5 – 9) Grant Connon made no mistake with the easy conversion (7 – 9).
At this stage, the home side were back on top, trying to play all the rugby and it was no surprise, when the visiting skipper was sin-binned for handling in the ruck, as the visitors tried to slow down the game.
Barging runs by home prop Danny DIXON made penetrative headway into the visiting defence as DMPRFC pressed for more points, however West Hartlepool added to their lead with another penalty (7 – 12).
As the visiting skipper returned to the field, he passed in the opposite direction his back row colleague, who had infringed with a high tackle and received the same fate, as the home side upped the tempo.
Replacement hooker Andy Tonkin, who like the rest of the DMPRFC bench had made the required impact on their entering the fray, powered his way to the line for the score which tied the game (12 – 12), but the simplest of conversions took the home side ahead (14 – 12).
West Hartlepool tries to rally, but as the next score was likely to be crucial, it was DMPRFC who added to the scoreboard, with a Grant Connon penalty (17 – 12).
The visitors did apply a determined pressure in the closing minutes, through a series of catch and drive attempts and scrimmaging efforts, but as the clock ticked down, their final penalty transgression allowed the home side to close out the game.
West Hartlepool were certainly deserving of their losing bonus point on the day and from the league perspective of the home side, another four points keep DMPRFC at the top, as Rossendale slip into third after stuttering at Beverley, while Chester are back into second with a home victory against Lymm.
Things will probably remain tight for the second half of the season, which starts next week for DMPRFC, with a home game against Sandal
By Kevin Robinson | Sunday 4th December 2011
The game turned out to be a thoroughly tight affair, as local derbies usually are, with both sides giving their all in the confrontations and plenty of talking points for the observer.
The home side started the brighter, attacking the visitors on both flanks, but to no avail as the West Hartlepool defence managed to keep the insurgents at bay.
The official had made it plain from the start that he would police the breakdown sternly and this turned out to be the area that both sides had problems with, resulting in a series of infringements and ultimately yellow cards throughout the game. However, there was time during the course of proceedings for some period of exciting play and a nail-biting finish.
After the visitors had absorbed the initial surge by the home side, they tried to mount their own attacks, mainly through their big forwards and rolling mauls seemed to be their preferred option, although none provided any decent opportunities anywhere near the red zone.
West Hartlepool did have a couple of scoring chances themselves, which came to nothing due to a combination of wrong options and covering defence.
Home fly half Grant Connon had a few opportunities to slot over penalties, but failed to master the swirling wind and chances to add to the scoreboard came and went.
Yellow cards were issued to the visiting centre and the home skipper for repeated infringements at the breakdown, which meant a bit of re-shuffling, but nothing at that stage that affected the game.
From similar opportunities, the visiting full back and kicker was more on song, slotting three for the only scores of the first half (0 – 9)
The break for oranges was always going to be an opportunity for the home side to take stock of what had happened before and to re-iterate that if the pace could be upped, the visitors may succumb.
So it was no surprise when this occurred, as DMPRFC started after oranges as they had the game, introducing pace into the game and this time with success. A series of rucks were created, sucking in the visiting defence, allowing scrum half Todd Harrison an opportunity to see the gap, which he took near to the posts (5 – 9) Grant Connon made no mistake with the easy conversion (7 – 9).
At this stage, the home side were back on top, trying to play all the rugby and it was no surprise, when the visiting skipper was sin-binned for handling in the ruck, as the visitors tried to slow down the game.
Barging runs by home prop Danny DIXON made penetrative headway into the visiting defence as DMPRFC pressed for more points, however West Hartlepool added to their lead with another penalty (7 – 12).
As the visiting skipper returned to the field, he passed in the opposite direction his back row colleague, who had infringed with a high tackle and received the same fate, as the home side upped the tempo.
Replacement hooker Andy Tonkin, who like the rest of the DMPRFC bench had made the required impact on their entering the fray, powered his way to the line for the score which tied the game (12 – 12), but the simplest of conversions took the home side ahead (14 – 12).
West Hartlepool tries to rally, but as the next score was likely to be crucial, it was DMPRFC who added to the scoreboard, with a Grant Connon penalty (17 – 12).
The visitors did apply a determined pressure in the closing minutes, through a series of catch and drive attempts and scrimmaging efforts, but as the clock ticked down, their final penalty transgression allowed the home side to close out the game.
West Hartlepool were certainly deserving of their losing bonus point on the day and from the league perspective of the home side, another four points keep DMPRFC at the top, as Rossendale slip into third after stuttering at Beverley, while Chester are back into second with a home victory against Lymm.
Things will probably remain tight for the second half of the season, which starts next week for DMPRFC, with a home game against Sandal
Re: Mowden Park 17 West 12
Posted by: West Park Allotment (IP Logged)
Date: 05/12/2011 10:34
We probably should have won this game. We tackled tenaciously and were miles better in the scrum however at the end of the day we didn't score any tries.
Better option taking and support play would probably have converted at least one of those first half chances.
Plenty to be positive about though. Well done lads.
Better option taking and support play would probably have converted at least one of those first half chances.
Plenty to be positive about though. Well done lads.
Re: Mowden Park 17 West 12
Posted by: MikeyBoy (IP Logged)
Date: 05/12/2011 14:41
this was a great effort from west and we were unlucky to have lost the game. As people have already mentioned, if just one of the chances had been taken, then we could have been looking at 4 points. I thought Mowden didn't look very good for a team that is top of the league, their 10 had an absolute shocker - so many poor passes, I'm assuming that must have been a bad day at the office for him otherwise they wouldn't be in first position!
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