Moseley 20 (13) – (18) 25 London Scottish

[observer]

Moseley 20 (13) – (18) 25 London Scottish

Moseley
Try: W. Robinson, Penalty
Conv: O. Thomas 2
Pen: O. Thomas 2

London Scottish
Try: tbc (3 tries)
Conv: tbc 2
Pen: tbc 2

[countrybumpkin]

A disappointing display and hugely frustrating result. Great to see a winger on the score sheet for a change, but Billy Robinson's try was down to pure individual opportunism rather than any deliberate design to spread the ball wide. Why is it that we are so reluctant to give our backs any ball, regardless of whether our forwards are dominating the bump 'n' grind battle, or not? Variation in the point of attack is the key to success, so after a succession of encouraging results in 2013, let's add a little more finesse to our game in the last few fixtures of the season.

Come on Mose!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[philhall]

I felt so so sad for Moseley who lost today. The score line states that London Scottish won 25 - 20 but they certainly did NOT deserve to win by any stretch of the imagination. Moseley, by contrast and without any bias whatsoever, certainly did NOT deserve to lose, far from it. Moseley had the better of Scottish up front in both the tight, the loose and the maul. I also feel had the edge on Scottish in the backs.

However, the significant difference between the two teams was not down to the players but the referee.

As early as 20 minutes into the game, when Mason was sent off I had a sense of foreboding with the referees' interpretation of the laws of the game, particularly laws relating to the scrum. Inconsistent, poor and mediocre would be a huge complement to him. Downright incompetent, inept, ill informed and a source of injustice to two teams of players trying to play a decent game of rugby would be much more fitting.

It beggars belief that whilst Scottish had a forward in the sin bin - for some other offence - Moseley won 4 scrum penalties along with at least 2 scrum free kicks ON THE TROT before the "referee" awarded a penalty try - and still not one Scottish player was even spoken to let alone yellow carded. All in all those scrums used up about 8 minutes of a 10 minute sin bin.

Now I am not against "running the clock down" as it were - and scrums are a good tool for doing just that - but goodness gracious me when 4 scrums in that period concede penalties yet nowt is done about it, then I fear for the integrity of the game we all love to watch.

London Scottish won - in my view they were very fortunate indeed - but they cannot, in all honesty, consider themselves the better team on the day. Neither could they consider they played the conditions better, far from it. They could not even say that they played to the referee, far from that too. They must have thought that all their Easter gifts were descending upon them in one fell swoop and like a kid with a free run in a sweet shop they were the unsuspecting benefactors of some divine referee intervention.

Moseley lost, not through their lack of effort or commitment but by the same divine intervention which, for some obscure reason, failed to award them even a modicum of their fair share of the spoils.

At least Moseley can hold their heads up high. There was no shame, no need for self criticism and certainly no need to walk around in repentant sack cloths.

I am proud of you Moseley.

I cannot say the same for the referee, whoever he was.

I will be there again on Friday to cheer the lads on again.

Come on Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooose.

[robheap]

Couldn't agree more with you Phil, it was probably the most inept display of "officiating" I have witnessed in nearly 50 years of playing and watching Rugby. We was robbed! Let's hope standards improve soon, couldn't fault the boys effort today, but agree about using the backs more.
C'mon you Mose!!

[andyj]

Agree with both the above postings (well put Phil). We sat next to Ed Morrison (well respected ex ref) and boy was he huffing and puffing. Wouldn't be drawn on commenting on the ref's overall performance but did offer that he thought he lost it at the time we won all those penalties before finally getting awarded a penalty try.
We continue to show so much spirit but don't vary our play. We have some really talented backs but hardly ever use them. I guess Simon Hunt must have been frozen as he hardly touched the ball and quite frankly it wasn't his fault.
I hope Ben Pons injury isn't serious.
One final comment - I have never seen the players and Kevin Maggs come off the pitch and look so annoyed. Don't expect they will be rushing to buy the ref or his assistants (who were equally poor) a drink tonight.

[shaky]

Agree totally about the ref. not only did he allow god knows how many penalties before grudgingly allowing the penalty try, but look at the Scots last try, every yard was made for them by the ref, except possibly the last one. if he could have carried the ball over the line for them, he would have, I'm sure.

Please tell me that he IS biased, I'd hate to think anyone THAT incompetent was allowed out alone.

[philhall]

I still feel so, so sad for Moseley. It won't go away. The more I think about the game the more I am convinced that Moseley could have played non stop till next Christmas with 5 extra players and still have lost. As with the miners in the old days the canary with the yellow shirt is the key to survival. With the canary we had officiating today Moseley were struggling from the word go and irreversibly damaged below the plimsoll line the moment Waggy was sent off.

Without wishing to reflect on the recent England refereeing issue let us hope that a discreet report - in some form or other - on Simon Hardings' performance in this game is prepared, delivered, considered and urgently acted upon. Only then can we begin to purge and eradicate inept and incompetent officials from the game we all love.

Come on Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooose.

[gary]

The referee was extremely average up to the scrum/reset scrum debacle in the second half during which he completely 'lost the plot'. However, I thought the other turning points were the withdrawals of Evans and Lawrence followed by the introduction of Powell. We seemed to lose our way completely then.

We appeared to start questioning every decision the referee made after that (maybe justifiably, maybe not) and I thought 2 things happened then. We seemed to lose our structure and game plan which I thought had been very effective up to then and, more importantly, irritated the referee to the extent that suddenly a stream of penalties went against us. Maybe the 2 were connected? Cooler heads were needed on the pitch and I just thought we lacked that when we needed it most.

I understand the players frustration but we need to 'manage' referees better and it seemed to be our senior players, in particular Powell and Mason, who needed to handle the situation better than they did.

Disappointing result, one we could have won, but nevertheless I still feel our improvement continues.

Looking forward to next week when I hope we can show Leeds just how much we have improved from the match at Wharfdale.

[welshexile1963]

I agree with whats already been mentioned above, the ref spoilt the game, he seemed determined to help the Scots, and determined for what seemed like hours not to give us that penalty try!! I cant fault the effort of the team and a bonus losing point may be of little satisfaction but they should hold their heads up and make Fri night another stormer and beat Leeds. See you all there.

Come on Mose!!!

[Oddsox]

the view on here is more positive than I expected about that performance - can we really blame a poor ref for our defeat?

I sat in the stand & had an annoying Scottish coach sitting behind me, shouting & berating the ref all game for the decisions he was making AGAINST Scottish- at one point I heard him say it was his first championship match?

First half we looked second best to me, defended well again - but never had much possession or territory.
Second half better. I agree with Gary comments above. When Ben went off the scrum never looked as solid again & Powell does seem to give a lot of penalties away.

Poor ref yes - but was he responsible for turnovers at critical times conceding points, dropped ball as we were due to cross for the equalising try & a box kick that gave them their winning try.

Very disappointed with result & feel we could/should have won despite the referee.

[gav1978]

First things first. Three cheers to the volunteers and ground staff for getting the game on yesterday. Regardless of the defeat, any rugby being played at all yesterday was solely down to their efforts.

Now to the game itself. At the risk of being the villain here, I'm with Oddsox. I'm not sure we can hide behind the ref as an excuse for the defeat yesterday.

I thought had James Love stayed on the field for longer, we may well have seen Scottish keep the scoreboard ticking over more consistently in the first half. They didn't kick for points nearly as often as I would have otherwise imagined. Attacking intent they may say, or more likely a bit of pragmatism to my mind - I've always been impressed with the consistency of his kicking for them and for Plymouth and he was a loss to them so early on.

The ref was poor, no doubt, with the penalty try incident being the most obvious example. I'm not overly surprised about the number of penalties that had to be awarded before he gave it, but what was disappointing was his failure to get the card out to effectively penalise Scottish for the persistent misdemeanours and scrum collapses. Giving us penalty after penalty but nothing else was pointless- taking the 3 points when 5 down and with one of their pack in the bin was never going to happen. Scottish actually did ok out of it, even allowing for the eventual concession of the try, given how much time they took off the clock when a man down. This cannot be allowed when they were doing so by foul means.

Where I do disagree with some of the posters on here is that I felt we were also the architects of our own downfall. I know we all love the running game but the Scottish try in the first half where the ball popped out of the ruck and was stolen for them to eventually break and go over was a disaster of our own making - sometimes you need to play the percentages, kick when receiving the ball and make the opposition take the initiative. That sometimes should definitely include when you're picking up in your own 22 with limited support and running up the slope on a very heavy pitch. While ahead if my memory serves me right.

The dropped catch from one of the restarts (Glyn Hughes I think) - it can happen to anyone but it was a straightforward catch under no pressure and the resultant knock on put us under a period of unnecessary pressure. Too often I feel we help other teams by making the error rather than forcing them to create from their own endeavours.

That said, lets end on a positive note. The forwards are unrecognisable at the set piece compared to earlier in the season. We're pushing sides in every game and at the very least picking up bonus points that (dare I say it now)should keep us safe again this year. Scottish haven't looked better than us on either occasion I've seen them this season despite waving the chequebook in front of the star performers at other clubs from the lower half of the table at the start of the season. The coaches at Mose deserve credit for the work they've done in what has been a very bruising season.

Onwards and upwards for Friday night against Leeds. C'mon MOSE!!!

[Shy Spa]

Birmingham Post report :

www.birminghampost.net/midlands-birmingham-sport/west-midlands-sports/rfu-news/2013/03/30/rfu-championship-moseley-20-london-scottish-25-65233-33091080/

[markd]

I have to agree with Brian Dick's report and assessment. Yes, several marginal calls went against Mose, but it was an ill-disciplined performance. This one was always going to be tight and the small margins went against - but blaming the referee only serves to ignore the short-comings in the performance overall.

I can't make the rearranged Leeds game unfortunately, but I'll be looking out for the score.

Come on Mose!

[philhall]

I have read Brian Dicks report but I still feel that the referee had an awful game. What must have gone through the lads minds when they forced scrum penalty after scrum penalty before they were awarded a penalty try and yet NOT ONE Scottish player was sent off I cannot begin to imagine. And as for Gregg King being given a yellow card for his tackle on the LS player it beggars belief. From my view in the stand I couldn't make out what he had done to deserve a yellow card. But, when I saw the tackle through camerashakes' video recording my view is that there was nothing wrong with it whatsoever.

Gregg King positioned himself directly in front of the approaching player, took the tackle firmly head on, held on and rolled backwards to ride the tackle - copy book style to my reckoning. In 9,999,999 out of 10,000,000 times the tackled players momentum would cause him to fall forward - as he did in this case. The only difference - to my reckoning - was that the attacking player fell over Gregg and as he did so went up in the air slightly before landing head forward. If the referee thought that was a malicious and dangerous tackle then he was wrong without the question of doubt.

Unfortunately, the cuckoo in the nest - or should I say, the canary in this instance - holds the referees whistle and that whistle will always have the better of even the most exciting, cleanest, hardest, fairest player - SHILLY, for example - the world rugby scene playing fraternity could possibly rear.

Here's to Friday night and let us hope that we take our frustration and our referees revenge out on Leeds.

Come on Moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooose

[philhall]

I have read Brian Dicks report but I still feel that the referee had an awful game. What must have gone through the lads minds when they forced scrum penalty after scrum penalty before they were awarded a penalty try and yet NOT ONE Scottish player was sent off I cannot begin to imagine. And as for Gregg King being given a yellow card for his tackle on the LS player it beggars belief. From my view in the stand I couldn't make out what he had done to deserve a yellow card. But, when I saw the tackle through camerashakes' video recording my view is that there was nothing wrong with it whatsoever.

Gregg King positioned himself directly in front of the approaching player, took the tackle firmly head on, held on and rolled backwards to ride the tackle - copy book style to my reckoning. In 9,999,999 out of 10,000,000 times the tackled players momentum would cause him to fall forward - as he did in this case. The only difference - to my reckoning - was that the attacking player fell over Gregg and as he did so went up in the air slightly before landing head forward. If the referee thought that was a malicious and dangerous tackle then he was wrong without the question of doubt.

Unfortunately, the cuckoo in the nest - or should I say, the canary in this instance - holds the referees whistle and that whistle will always have the better of even the most exciting, cleanest, hardest, fairest player - SHILLY, for example - the world rugby scene playing fraternity could possibly rear.

Here's to Friday night and let us hope that we take our frustration and our referees revenge out on Leeds.

Come on Moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooose

[Richie B]

Have to say I'm not convinced that the referee cost us the game. Agreed he spoilt the game with his unwillingness to play any advantage and to manage the scrum effectively. Discipline was poor especially second half and it cost a huge amount of ground. Thought the game turned with the substitutions second half which were ill timed imho. We had just forced the penalty try and they were suffering badly. They were more than comfortable in the tight after that. Poor game to watch really I think we're more dangerous with a running oPtion at 15. Ollies a great kicker but it comes at a price and Glyns a good kicker too. Yellow for Greg king no surprise given the directive given to officials. Used to spend all game looking for opportunities to upend opponents like that. Text book tackle in years gone by but not now. Can't fault the commitment though once again and looking forward to the Leeds game Friday.

[grooveavenue]

To be honest at the time I was dubious about the refs decision to Yellow Greg. At the time and I think it is confirmed by CameraShakes highlights that the LS player and Greg slipped into the tackle with Greg going underneath and unable to control where the LS body went, more down to conditions than player infringement. Nevertheless I enjoyed the game that was always likely to be a hard slog in both the conditions and despite Moseley's predictable tactics - high on pack low on flair. It was probably quite easy for LS to prepare for the game knowing full well that we would always be strong in the pack - it was just a matter of adjusting their game. But having said that and rather confusingly, I still believe we had enough of the game to have won.

Difficult one coming up but Carnegie's record does show inconsistency having just about lostas many as they have won. The pressure is on them to make sure they get in top four but I hope we can spoil their day and give ourselves the pleasure of relaxing in the last two games and show what we may be looking forward to next season with a little more flair?!