1stXV Secure Bonus Point Win Over Darlington Mowden Park
Ampthill welcomed Darlington Mowden Park to Olney field on a dry, partly cloudy & windless afternoon. Despite this being the fourth match in 25 months that the two sides had played each other this was the first ever league fixture between them with two pre-season fixtures and the 2013/14 National 2 playoff game making up the others.
In those three games DMP had won two, Amps one, with each game won by a single score and the total points scored by each side across the three games equal.
The game began with A’s on the back foot, the visitors were dominating territory & possession and the the first 10 minutes being played in the hosts half.
Against the run of play, the home side took the lead on 11 minutes with a 45m penalty goal from wing Elliot Clements-Hill when the visitors were penalised at a ruck on almost the first occasion that they were in their own half. Just 2 minutes later DMP’s fly half Garry Law returned the complement with a well struck penalty goal of his own.
Ampthill began to turn the screw at the set piece with two successive scrum penalties against Mowden seeing them camped in the red zone to the right of the posts. When a further 5m scrum saw the maroon & gold’s pack drive for the line illegally stopped Mr Parrott raised his arm and ran under the posts, Clements-Hill adding the extras in the 21st minute.
The visitors responded by disrupting Amps lineout which somewhat nullified the benefit of the set piece dominance and it was not until the 34th minute that Number 8 Darrell Dyer picked up at the base of a ruck and dived over the line, Clements-Hill converting.
DMP were nothing if not competitive and right on the half time whistle scrum half Bruno Bravo scampered over the line behind the posts after multiple phases deep in the home 22 had stretched the defence, Law converting to leave the score 20-10 at oranges.
The second half started with a bang with debutant prop Jack Culverhouse crashing over the visitors line wide on the left after the forwards had battered away through several phases, Clements-Hill adding the extras in the 43rd minute.
The 46th minute saw A’s reduced to 14 players after a touch judge intervention and Mowden took advantage with replacement back Ed Coulson scoring an unconverted try on 48 minutes.
The hosts, still a man down, then produced their best passage of play which saw Clements-Hill cross wide on the right unopposed in the 52nd minute, he converted his own try.
The game became fragmented for the last quarter with both benches being emptied, multiple scrum resets and the visitors running everything but to no avail, the scoreboard remaining untroubled until the 80th minute when Hooker Simon Uzokwe touched down a fine unconverted team try.
After four games & 340 minutes of rugby there is still less than two scores between these sides!
Mowden Park head coach John Newton commented “We were our own worst enemies with too many handling errors and missed tackles but all credit to Ampthill they took their chances well. We had a number of players making their debut today and they will take time to settlle in and four away fixtures in a row isn’t helping either. I was encouraged by our attitude, our heads never dropped and we scored a good try at the death”
Ampthill head coach Paul Turner commented “A great win against a very good Mowden Park side, pleased with the response to what was a poor performance last Saturday. This week, though not error free, we were much smarter and played to our strengths. This is a very tough league and we are still finding our feet.”
Ampthill 32 (20) Darlington Mowden Park 20 (10)
Ampthill
Tries:- Penalty (20), Dyer (34), Culverhouse (42), Clements-Hill 52
Conversions:- Clements-Hill (21, 35, 43)
Penalties:- Clements-Hill (11, 29)
DMP
Tries:- Bravo (40), Coulson (48), Uzokwe (80)
Conversions:- Law (41)
Penalties:- Law (13)
Star Man:- Darrell Dyer, Ampthill
Referee:- Dan Parrott
Attendance:- 195
