Darlington Mowden Park 21 Richmond 22

A PLAYER Mowden were unable to hang on to dealt them a cruel blow on Saturday when he set up Richmond's late winning try.

Sam Stuart joined Mowden for the last three months of last season before returning to pastures where his hairstyle would be more appreciated.

The bobtailed scrum half was never likely to settle up north, but he made a telling contribution on his brief return, outplaying his opposite number Bruno Bravo.

Spotting space out wide, Stuart put in a pinpoint kick to the right wing to set up the try and the Richmond kicker's only success sealed Mowden's fate.

The fact that he had missed his three previous conversions plus a fairly simple penalty underlined that Mowden could have few complaints as they lost the try-count 4-2.

With two of the three teams below them winning, they are only one point off the bottom of National One.

In front of a crowd of 1,013, they started very brightly and led 6-0, but with two players making their debuts in the ever-changing line-up they were unable to sustain the momentum against a side who looked more of a unit.

The home pack did well, with Rob Conquest and Tom Jubb providing as good a second row pairing as they have had. But the spark needed to inject a climb up the table fizzled out after the early promise.

Of the debutants, winger Jake Henry looked the part and so did South African fly half Warren Seals until he began to struggle on the end of Bravo's erratic service.

The scrum was strong, leading to Garry Law's second penalty, but for all their fluency in the first 15 minutes Mowden never really threatened a try.

Richmond, on the other hand, scored from their first serious attack, pulling in the defence with a burst up the left before creating an overlap for the right winger.

Stuart showed he is no cissy by earning a yellow card after getting involved in a fracas with home skipper Gareth Nesbit.

Mowden failed to capitalise when the locks combined in a burst up the middle, only for an overlap to be wasted through a poor final pass.

Another strong scrum allowed Law to make it 9-5, but cracks were starting to show when the second of two poor passes by Bruno resulted in a five-metre scrum.

This time Richmond got a shove on, Mowden were penalised and the No 8 took it quickly to drive over for a 10-9 interval lead.

Mowden conceded a spate of penalties early in the second half, one resulting in a yellow card for Ollie Hodgson. They almost survived, but just before he returned a catch-and-drive try by ex-Mowden flanker Jack Allcock extended the visitors' lead.

Mowden replied in kind, kicking a penalty to touch and mounting a ten-metre drive finished by Conquest.

With 13 minutes left they went back in front following what looked like a neat piece of kidology at a scrum.

They delayed their engagement and when a free kick was awarded against Richmond for pushing too soon they disputed it and conceded a penalty.

Following the kick to touch Jubb broke from the line-out and the ball was moved left for Seals to cut through for a try.

Law's conversion made it 21-15 and Mowden tried to hang on without making changes. Not until the visitors had gone back in front did they send on leading try scorer Simon Uzokwe and the equally powerful Joe Maud.

With the game entering injury time, it was asking too much of them to make an impact.