DARLINGTON Mowden Park return to the Darlington Arena tomorrow as they welcome Rosslyn Park in round four of the National One season.

Garry Law’s side will be looking for their first league win, while the visitors will be hoping to extend their unbeaten start to the campaign.

Mowden have made three changes to the side that started against Blackheath last week, with director of rugby Garry Law starting at fly-half in the absence of Warren Seals, Ben Frankland returning to the starting XV with Callum Mackenzie shifting onto the wing and Ralph Appleby returning to start at tight-head prop.

Player-coach Paul Jarvis will be making his fourth successive start, having played at full-back and outside centre this season, and the former Doncaster Knight has been happy with his side's performances, even though results have not gone to plan.

“There have been some real positives to pull from every game, but giving up second-half leads in all three games has been a tough pill to swallow," said Jarvis.

Jarvis’ switch to the player-coach role was announced over the summer, with Appleby also taking a more active role in coaching the side.

"The role hasn't really changed too much for me," added Jarvis. "It allows me to be more vocal on my thoughts to the rest of the coaching staff but having Joe Cain on board is a big plus and Garry takes a lot of the on field coaching on so I am still able to focus on being a player.”

Tomorrow's visitors, Rosslyn Park, have made a perfect start to the season, winning all three of their games with a four-try bonus point. Last weekend saw them notch six tries in their away win over Taunton to retain their lead at the top of the table.

Asked about the challenge posed by Rosslyn Park, Jarvis said: “It's always going to be a tough game when the top of the league come to town, but we believe that if we can cut out some of the silly errors that have plagued some of our second-half performances, we know we can really trouble them.”

Mowden have dedicated this weekend’s fixture to those who supported the club’s CrowdFunder campaign, which raised over £20,000 during the Covid pandemic.

"Having a crowd back is brilliant," said Jarvis. "The Taunton game had a real buzz about it and the crowd definitely had a big part to play in that. We play a very entertaining brand of rugby so hopefully we keep bringing more and more fans to the Arena."