Recent Form: Strong – Darlington are just four points away from having a perfect record after suffering heart-breaking one-point home defeats to Cambridge and Bishop’s Stortford in the past fortnight, previously beating Hull and Chinnor.

The Cambridge and Stortford played out in differing fashion, with DMP having fallen 20-3 behind at the interval against the former before rallying until an eventual 32-31 reverse.

The hosts had raced into a point-a-minute 17-0 lead against Stortford the week before, only to concede 22 unanswered points as they fell behind.

Mowden Park rallied with a converted Liam Checksfield try, but Dan Cole’s penalty with just a minute remaining gave Bishop’s the 25-24 victory.

In week two, DMP fell 19-0 behind at Hull before taking control in the second period and going onto win 29-22, while they started the season with a hard-fought 23-16 home success against Chinnor.

Players to Watch:

Yaree Fantini – Blind-side flanker has enjoyed a terrific start to life at Darlington with three tries in four games since joining from Benneton Treviso.

Previously played for England Sevens and helped the Ayrshire Bulls to a Super Six triumph.

Joe Craggs – Now into his eighth season at the club, the No. 8 has more than 150 appearances for DMP and also represented England Under 18s.

Claimed a trio of titles at the end of last season when named Player of the Year, Players’ Player of the Year and Supporters’ Player of the Year.

Morgan Passman – The former Newcastle Falcon has a stunning record for DMP having touched down 13 times in just 11 games.

He has scored in every game this season, while also went over against Rams in the hosts’ 29-23 victory at the Darlington Arena last October.

During a previous spell on loan from Falcons to DMP, he scored eight tries in four games during the 2019/20 campaign, crossing four times against both Birmingham Moseley and Plymouth Albion.