MOWDEN Park's transformation since their previous home game was astonishing. Whether it owed more to the reinforcements from Newcastle or a collective response to the management shake-up will become clearer in the new year.

Mike Keeligan, the new chairman of rugby, said: "Everyone hit their straps today. We still have the ambition to get into National Two and no-one has left or been sacked."

Rumours that the rugby budget will have to be cut have been played down, but such was the spirit of the team on Saturday that it is hard to imagine anyone walking away in mid-season.

The home defeat by struggling Macclesfield three weeks previously had left Mowden closer to relegation than the promotion play-off spot to which they had aspired.

They are still 12 points adrift of that, but the gap might not look insurmountable if they win their next home game, against runaway leaders Tynedale on January 19.

That promises to be a high velocity clash of teams bolstered by Newcastle Academy products, of whom Ross Batty, Phil Dawson and Alex Tait made a big difference to Mowden on Saturday.

Newcastle students Scott Riddell, Ciaran McNicholas and Robbie Kalbraier were also prominent up front and another one, Chris Clark, looked very sharp on the wing when he went on for the second half.

Playing at No 8 with the two dynamoes, Riddell and Aaron Myers, alongside him, Dawson was the one doing whatever back row graft and backtracking was necessary.

It meant he was overshadowed in open play because the other two simply revelled in the fast, open approach which had to be adopted, given the personnel available.

The whole pack proved athletic ball handlers, scoring seven of the ten tries without recourse to driving mauls.

Hooker Batty and lock McNicholas both touched down twice, while prop Kalbraier dummied and side-stepped his way to the posts on a 25-metre run.

Scrum half Andy Foreman responded well to orders to get the ball out as quickly as possible, although he did score a trademark try when he broke from a ruck on halfway and rode several tackles on his way to the posts.

With their run of Development XV games at an end, the Falcons contingent should be available for the forseeable future.

They really need stronger opposition than they got from Hull Ionians, but Batty and some others have already found there is little point in being loaned out to National One clubs if they are not guaranteed a game.

Ionians are third in Three North and began confidently, but after their pressure in the first five minutes failed to bring any reward they were hit by a blitz which clocked up 36 points in 25 minutes.

Mowden kept the ball alive superbly with slick handling, and with Tait always looking to counter-attack from full back they ran the ball from everywhere.

Despite wearing no 6, Riddell looked the best centre on the field and took a switch pass from Myers at high speed to race over for the first try after ten minutes.

The second came from a quick line-out 60 metres out, the quicksilver Tait making the initial running for Myers to send winger Gareth Kerr over.

Kerr featured again in the next move with acting captain Danny Brown in support. When he was stopped just short the ball was quickly recycled for McNicholas to score.

A break up the left involving Tait, Charlie Rayner and Iain Dixon ended with McNicholas appearing at centre to score again.

Then came Foreman's try and with the help of a penalty and four conversions from Jon Benson it was 36-0 at half-time.

Benson retired at the interval with a neck injury, allowing Rayner to show his skills at fly half. He also kicked well, landing a simple penalty before converting all five second half tries, including one from the touchline.

As in the first half, Hull made a decent start. But when they drove a maul into the 22 and moved the ball out Rayner intercepted and three passes later Tait was left with a clear run from halfway.

Batty's first try followed some excellent handling and at 53-0 Mowden sent on Tony Begovich for Riddell and he scored with his first touch after good work by Dawson and Myers.

Front row duo Kalbraier and Batty completed the rout and Mowden can look forward to another big win in their next game on January 5 away to bottom club Beverley, who are reported to be losing players.