Falcons’ feelgood factor gives Mowden Park a boost
Neale Harvey looks at the prospects of the teams in National One aiming to climb into the Championship
Darlington Mowden Park rugby director Danny Brown believes additional strength-indepth will fuel his side’s drive to bring Championship rugby to a resurgent North-east.
Last season’s National One runners-up have been boosted by the signing of former Yorkshire Carnegie full-back Christian Georgiou and ex-Glasgow back row George Stokes, while winger Ollie Walker is among a raft of lower league signings after arriving from Tynedale.
Brown wants to capitalise on the feelgood factor being generated by regional rivals Newcastle, with whom Mowden Park enjoy a productive dual-registration arrangement.
“Hats off to Newcastle because they’ve driven a lot of the current success around here, which hopefully we can piggy-back on and attract new supporters,” Brown said.
“Finishing second behind Coventry was a massive achievement last year and to beat them towards the end of the season was particularly satisfying because we played so well.
“We’ve got a good core squad, but we’ve gone for more strengthin-depth this season and as well as bringing in people like Christian and George, we’ve brought in a number of guys from lower league clubs who want to challenge themselves to develop at this level.
“We’re proud of our record and having watched Newcastle’s game against Leinster last week, 11 former DMP players were in the starting line-up that beat the European champions. That’s pretty impressive going for any National One club, let alone a North-east one.”
Darlington’s close ties with Newcastle will see back row Simon Uzokwe and prop Jack Payne registered with the club, with Brown adding: “I think Newcastle would like to see us in the Championship because it’s a lot easier to have a team 40 minutes down the road.”
While last season’s success ensures Darlington will start as title favourites, Brown said: “Other people might perceive us as favourites and you get a bit of pressure from that, but I do think this will be a harder season with a number of sides having a pop at promotion.
“With no Coventry they’ll see it as an opportunity to get into the Championship and the likes of Plymouth, Ampthill and Old Elthamians will really have a crack at it. I don’t think you’ll have a runaway winner but that will ensure it’s going to be a very exciting league.”
Among the promotion dark horses are Blackheath, whose impressive list of recruits is headed by former Bedford wing Elliot Clements-Hill, ex-Ampthill scrum-half Stef Liebenberg, former Northampton lock Josh Peters and ex-Rotherham prop Tom Williams, who doubles as
“Newcastle have driven the current success around here, which hopefully we can piggy-back”
scrum coach.
Blackheath head coach James Shanahan said: “We’ll be hoping to push higher after a fifth-place finish last season, but Darlington will be the favourites and Ampthill have shown their intent by signing Soane Tonga’uiha, who’s still a top-quality international prop.
“Plymouth are also very strong at home and finished last season well, while our local neighbours Old Elthamians are making a lot of noise about getting into the Championship. I’ll be very surprised if there’s another runaway winner like a Coventry or Hartpury.”