Dominant display from the Saints

The Saints entertained Bromley in a double header league match and were expecting a tough match and they made a good start with some committed forward play and this allowed Mike Brent to make a great break and it was a mismatch against one of the big Bromley forwards and he went over for the first try. 5-0. Bromley put some good phases together and when they made ground out wide it was the returning Darlington who made a great tackle. Ross Garner made a great break from his own half and this took play deep into the visitors half following good interplay between Mike and Jack O'Reilly. It was a good turnover by Bromely to stop the Saints from making further inroads. Despite struggling a bit at scrum time against the big Bromley pack the lineout was good and fromone they drove the ball forward before releasing the backs , a good inside pass to Joe Rees saw him use his speed and footwork to weave past three players before scoring under the posts. Mike converted. 12-0. Another good lineout again using the driving maul to great effect and when they released the backs and a delicate chip forwrd was taken by Joe Rees who attacked with pace and power but great defence stopped the attack however the forwards recycled the ball quickly and when Darlington received the ball he used his streb=ngth and height to stretch over and score. Mike again converted. 19-0. Again it was Darlington made a great tackle on the dangerous Bromley winger but the visitors kept the pressure on and they scored a well deserved try. 19-7.
Dan Shaik back at the club made a great tackle and having replaced the injured Billy Blunden at scrum half he released the backs who were all playing well and the ball was getting Darlington who was a thorn in Bromley's side but they managed some last ditch tackles to stop him. Darts continued to put pressure on and some great runs from Coshy and Ciaran kept Darts on the front foot. It seemed a matter of time before we would score again but the big visiting pack won a acrum against the head to enable them to clear the lines. The easing of pressure was temprary as Darts came straight back at the visitors and a penalty was kicked to touch and another good driving maul got the visitors on the back foot and after 3 phases the ball was moved back in opposite direction for Tom Garrett to drive over. 24-7. Bromley were never out of it and they forced a penalty and from the linout started to drive Darts back deep into their 22 and a great inside pass saw one of the big men take the ball on close to the try line but unfortunately for them they infringed which allowed Darts to clear the lines. Drts just went a bit off the pace and started to geve away too many penalties which disorganised the home defence and as soon as there was an overlap out wide the visitors moved the ball well to score and convert. 24-12. Darts upped the pace a bit and a great counterruck from Jack O'Reilly got the team on the front foot and again it was a penalty which was put into touch. Great play in the backs got the ball again to Darlington and he went on another run and it looked like a certain try when he lost his footing. Again it was a lack of clinical finishing which stopped any further scores for the Saints and a slight forward pass and a knock on stopped other opportunities and Bromley who never gave up went on the offensive and using the ball well and scored a good try and conversion at the final whistle. 24-19
A great win for Darts despite the tight scoreline and an all round performance from all the players , the forwards did particularly well against a big experienced pack and the young backs ably led by Mike Brent showed they have a lot more to give. A great game of rugby played in great spirit by both teams.
A close run thing but Darlington was Player of the Match.