SCUNTHOPE 29 – DARLINGTON MOWDEN PARK 61
On a fine sunny day in Scunthorpe, we welcomed Darlington Mowden Park to Heslam Park, this is a team we last played against in the leagues season 2001/02. Mowden Park were relegated from National one last season.
The Scunthorpe team started with 4 debutants in the match day squad. Dan Gilbert, Will Dark, Tom David and a returning Elliot Caunt albeit having converted from full back to 2nd row. DMP kicked off towards the scoreboard end. The ball was collected by Scunthorpe from the kick off who carried the ball until giving up a penalty for holding on. DMP kicked for the corner and at the line out the ball was knocked forward by the Greens. From the ensuing scrum DMP played through the backs only to lose the ball but the Greens had been penalised for offside. Again DMP opted for a line out 5m out; this time the catch and drive was more successful; the powerful drive from line out try No4 converted 0-7. 7 mins.
The game then began to settle down with Scunthorpe attacking and only some great defence by DMP, although giving away numerous penalties for persistent offside, a team warning was given. The Greens eventually won a kickable penalty. Will Dark with his 1st effort at goal gave Scunthorpe their first points of the new season. 3- 7. 20 mins.
From the kickoff Scunthorpe won the ball and drove on. Only for DMP to be caught offside once more and a DMP player shown a yellow card. Scunthorpe continued to attack once more from an offside penalty Scunthorpe kicked for the corner and from the following 5m line out showed their mettle and scored a catch and drive try by James Dyson. Conversion missed. 8-7. 27 mins
From the kickoff Scunthorpe carried the ball but eventually ran out of support giving up a penalty for holding on. DMP kicked for the corner and managed to get the ball within 10 metres of the Scunthorpe line. A catch and drive ensued with the Ever present No 7 Jo Craig’s catching the ball for DMP to drive towards the line culminating in a try for the tight head prop next to the posts. Converted. 8-14. 31 mins.
Another DMP offside penalty saw Scunthorpe kick for the corner however a touch by a DMP player saw the ball go over the dead ball line to give Scunthorpe an attacking scrum 5 metres out. From this 5 m scrum quick ball through hands saw Will Robinson go under the posts this converted by Will Dark 15 -14. 36 mins.
Further attacking play by Scunthorpe saw carries by Laurence Pearce and Ben Hyde drive into the DMP 22 before quick ruck ball saw the ball go coast to coast and with a great catch by Lewis Talbot saw him run into the corner for a try. A great conversion from the touchline saw Scunthorpe leading 22-14 with only added on time left in the 1st half.
Scunthorpe from the kickoff won the ball only to knock forward DMP picked up and with some driving play managed to get over the Scunthorpe line only to be held up by some last gasp tackling. From the dropout DMP continued with the driving play at the Scunthorpe defence eventually the defence gave way for the DMP no 9 to scamper under the posts. This again was converted. The referee then blew for half time. 22-21. HT.
DMP came out in the 2nd half appearing to be a different team using the driving maul as their main weapon. After a number of lines out they scored the 1st try of the 2nd half with the towering No. 5 going over unchallenged. This was converted. 22-28 52 mins. The next try for DMP came from a line out catch and drive with a Scunthorpe player penalised for bringing down the maul a quick tap from the busy DMP no 9, saw the ball go through the hands for the no 4 to score. converted 22-35. 55 Mins
With Scunthorpe now under the cosh from the DMP team who now had their tails up and were running everything. Scunthorpe gave up another try. Which was converted. 22-42. 60 mins.
Scunthorpe appeared to be getting back into the game but were penalised for holding on. Once more DMP kicked up field for a line out. More driving play from the line out and driving through the forwards saw DMP score another try. 22-49. 66 mins.
Scunthorpe seemed to get back into the game with some excellent interplay culminating in a try for Joey Mowbray converted by Ethan Taylor on for Will Dark and Ethan Heath Drury respectively. 29-49. 72mins. With this a try bonus.
Scunthorpe received the ball from the kickoff and continued to play their quick passing game. Only to be caught from a forward pass giving DMP a scrum from which to build a platform to score their next try by hard running at a now tiring defence this brought a try for DMP which was converted 29-56. 76 mins.
From the kickoff DMP continued their driving play with Scunthorpe on the back foot. Scunthorpe turned the ball over and ran back at DMP, then tried a kick through which was put down for a goal line drop out. Scunthorpe got the ball back but a kick through saw a mark called. The player then never tapped the ball but DMP just ran the ball from their own 22 the full length of the pitch to score what was the final score. DMP 29 -61. FT
A hard day at the office for the Greens. Some positives with the players fronting up to a team who will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season. Scunthorpe now away to Otley next Saturday.
Match Report written by Graham Migdalski
MOM – Will Robinson
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (46)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (45)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (44)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (43)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (42)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (41)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (40)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (39)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (38)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (37)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (36)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (35)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (34)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (33)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (32)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (31)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (30)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (29)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (28)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (27)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (26)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (25)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (24)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (23)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (22)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (21)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (20)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (19)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (18)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (17)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (16)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (15)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (14)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (13)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (12)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (11)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (10)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (9)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (8)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (7)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (6)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (5)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (4)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (3)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (2)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Paul McDonald (1)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (36)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (35)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (34)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (33)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (32)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (31)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (30)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (29)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (28)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (27)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (26)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (25)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (24)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (23)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (22)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (21)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (20)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (19)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (18)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (17)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (16)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (15)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (14)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (13)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (12)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (11)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (10)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (9)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (8)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (7)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (6)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (5)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (4)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (3)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (2)
First XV – DarlingtonMP – 6Sep25 – Debz Thompson (1)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (30)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (29)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (28)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (27)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (26)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (25)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (24)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (23)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (22)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (21)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (20)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (19)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (18)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (17)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (16)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (15)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (14)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (13)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (1)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (2)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (3)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (4)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (5)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (6)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (7)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (8)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (9)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (10)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (11)
First XV – Darlington MP – 6Sep25 – Bill Rhodes (12)
WOMEN’S XV
OLD BRODS 39 – SCUNTHORPE 22
Scunthorpe Women’s team travelled to Old Brods to play a pre season friendly . Brods got the upper hand early on from some broken play and loose defence to get them on the score board .
We let them play too much in our 22 and the constant pressure on our defence showed and allowed them to get a few scores ahead . When we had possession and played smart we did have some good phases 
Our scrum is a massive asset for us going forward and the players that had to front up did well and we had a great platform to work off 
Unfortunately a loss was the end result 39-22 but lots of positives to take forward 
Today most importantly we had debuts from 6 new players . 4 brand new to the game of rugby union ; Gabby , Charlotte O , Poppy and Danni also 2 that started in the girls section that have returned Ruby and Holly M . Welcome to the team 
STAGS (2ND) XV
MELTON MOWBRAY 29 – SCUNTHORPE 26
Scunthorpe Stags ventured into new territory when they played their first game in the RFU Leagues. The boys were entered into the Counties 2 Midlands East (North) league and came up against a very capable side in Melton Mowbray first team.
The Leicestershire side had a big, strong pack which was very effective against the very young Scunthorpe side which was depleted of several key players due to a wedding. Melton Mowbray camped in the Scunthorpe half for long periods of the first half, and the young Stags could not get to grips with the match official’s style after being used to Yorkshire referees for several years. The away team gave away several penalties and after 10 minutes Keir Gosling received a yellow card for not being 10 metres at a quick tap penalty. Scunthorpe weathered the storm for a short while and their ferocious tackling and high line defence set the home side back with a few penalties going the ‘Green’ way. When the Scunthorpe backs got the ball, they asked questions of the opposition as they had pace to burn. Playing with the brisk wind the home side scored the first of two first half tries from a dubious penalty for pulling down the maul. Melton Mowbray had several attempts trying to crawl over and eventually managed to touch down 5-0. They scored a similar try with their bustling forwards crashing over on 30 minutes, this time it was converted 12 -0.
Scunthorpe then showed what they were about with a good break out from the 22 as the pacey backs outran the opposition. The Greens could not keep the ball in contact and yet again were penalised for holding on. A second yellow card was issued to Liam Brunt and the defence cleared their lines. From yet another penalty the home side went for goal just before half time and the score resting at 15-0. With the wind behind them and the younger, fitter players Scunthorpe were confident that they could turn this game around.
Three minutes after the start Scunthorpe began the resurgence as they worked their way into the opposition 22. A penalty by Melton Mowbray saw Charley Wilkinson take a ‘Bridlington’ he passed it to Daniel Longden who drove over with three defenders hanging on. Henry Dawson converted, 15-7.
On 48 minutes the ever-impressive Jack Murr scored an excellent try. It was a robust clear out at a ruck by Oliver Jepson who made the ball available, Billy Hardy chip kicked it perfectly and in the race to the line Jack Murr secured the touchdown. The conversion just went he wrong side of the post, 15-12.
Scunthorpe were on a roll and played the best rugby so far (apart from their inability to contest the breakdown where they were outplayed the canny opposition). There is a cliché that there is no substitute for pace and young winger Troy Edwards proved this on the hour when he scored another try from a chip kick. Scunthorpe were on the charge, and another deft chip saw the ball bounce end over end into the 22. The defender had 10 m on Troy but he scorched through just getting the touchdown. The home side were up in arms as they were sure that their player had time to ground the ball, but it wasn’t to be. Henry Dawson converted and now the Stags nudged into the lead at 15-19.
Just as it looked as though the Stags were going to pull away the home side dug deep and came back. Scunthorpe could not keep hold of the ball and once again the breakdown was key. On 70 minutes they scored from another forward rumble after another penalty kick put the lineout in the red zone. The conversion went over, and the lead changed hands to 22-21.
Scunthorpe were not done and came back again this time a try in the corner from Cian Vaughan who made a good impression after coming on as sub, the conversion was missed so the score was delicately balanced with five minutes to play at 21-26. Another penalty for the home side saw them score a converted try to claim back the advantage at 29-26.
The referee was now playing overtime and from a home lineout on the 22 he gave a free kick to Scunthorpe. They now had the chance to seal the victory, but it was not to be as once again they were turned over in contact and the chance went begging. The home side knew they had been in a tough encounter and there were lots of positives in the performance, none more than man of the match Jack Murr. Hopefully with players returning next week the Stags will build on this and learn from their mistakes as they welcome West Bridgford 2 to Heslam Park.
Match Report written by Steve Williams
MoM – Jack Murr
DEVELOPMENT XV
SCUNTHORPE 58 – BP 22
Scunthorpe Devs had their first pre season fixture against BP at Heslam park. The game kicked off and Scunthorpe applied the pressure from the off the forwards carrying hard and the backs using good distribution the get the ball wide. Scunthorpe eventually broke the deadlock with Charley Aitkenhead winning a ruck and running over for his first try as a Scunthorpe player. In almost an identical fashion Charley showed his rucking prowess, picking the ball up from the ruck after the kick off and running the ball in under the posts. 12-0.
This opened the flood gates and Scunthorpe ran in multiple tries with Joshua Samuels, Gavin Hale (returning after time away) and Mark Stow getting on the score sheet. BP eventually woke up and came back at the Devs running a couple of tries in before half time for a score of 26-10 going into the break.
The second half started with a back and fourth between the side with Gav Hale running in a two more tries and Charley running in another (both players vying for the top try score award early in the season) and BP answering back with their own 48-22.
After a lul in performance from the Devs the picked themselves in up to run in 2 more tries, one by Charley Aitkenhead and another by Cameron Ogg. Final Score 58-22.
A great performance by all and a positive start to the season. The could have been multiple MoMs this week but with his first perfomance in Green Charley Aitkenhead was the deserved man of match! We go again next week, Away @ BP.
Match Report written by Tom Fell
MoM – Charley Aitkenhead