Leeds came out & looked huge... like a lot of white robots. They kicked off down the slope but wind blowing up the slope. Moseley managed to juggle the kick off twice - then spill into touch. Leeds took good line out & having looked like scoring twice went under post. 0 7 - 2 minutes.
Moseley kicked off & Leeds knocked on. Moseley camped on their line for several phases couldn't cross then - took 3.
Leeds then appeared to morph into the all blacks - running at incredible speed with great lines, off loading all over the place & scoring at will. Moseley looked ramshackle.
3 - 26 20 mins ?
last 10 minutes of the half, Moseley started to work into game. Camped in their 22 - held up over line & had other chances to touch down.
HT 3-26. Lead not a big as it felt & if only Moseley could have grabbed a try back.
Second half was superb - Moseley ran everything & so nearly got there. Fast ball, breaking tackles, pounding past gain line again & again. Leeds out on their feet. Penalties galore, 2 yellows for Leeds. Fans massive - Cum on U Moes.
20 - 26 only one winner - but are Moseley running out of steam.
Leeds snuck a penalty 20 - 29 & Ollie missed a relatively simple (for him) reply very late that would have got a very deserved bonus point.
But so enjoyable & proud of Moseley response. We deserved so much & got nothing, from a position that looked like 50/60 points against early on.
One thing puzzles me though. I think that Both Donny and Jersey beat Leeds? How could they have possibly beated that outfit of "white robots" (what a lovely, apt description!) that we saw in the first half on Friday night?
Have Leeds done a lot of recruiting lately?
Have they now got Ian McGeechan as coach? I thought I saw him at the game.
Based on the first 15-20 minutes, the difference between the full-time sides and us seems to be:
1) Pace - their speed on the break was difficult to live with 2) Bulk - on average, I'd say they were 10-20% bigger all round 3) Slickness - as exemplified by the way they offloaded in the tackle wherever they could, giving us little chance to get into the ruck and compete for the ball 4) Clinical finishing ability.
(1) and (2) can really only be addressed by going full-time and having the training and conditioning regimes associated with that. (3) could be worked on, but only at the expense of neglecting other areas of training. (4) must be worked on whatever else happens. There's a reason we have no 4-try bonuses in the league this season.
What we had for the remainder of the game, of course, was fighting spirit, and once we got that going Leeds kind of fell apart. Notable that our scrum eventually achieved dominance, despite what I think was a size disadvantage. But still we found it hard to break the final defensive line. Olly's last kick really shouldn't have been so important for a BP. It was the first 15 minutes, when they scored all their tries, that did for us.
Ah well, bring on Roth, there's a job to be done and it's a reasonably shout to say that we can do it.
Have to agree with CJB1. We just don't have the same pace and power in our threes. Think I'm a bit out on my own here as I think we've really missed Hayters pace at 12. Probably get shot down for my heresy but would rather we'd gone for a specialist replacement than shoehorn shaggy. No favours done by not having a specialist 15 either where we have no penetration or counter attacking threat. Think the highlights show that one of their forwards was able to run down Simon Hunt when clean through. Think we have also missed Sam Browns qualities especially defensively last few weeks. However lets not forget we were a force to be reckoned with and had shaggy's arm been 6 inches longer or had the charge down broken more kindly for Glyn the result may have gone our way. Game was a much better watch than the LS game and whatever the shortcomings of the team the way they fight makes them very easy to follow! Shame it took 15 mins to get hands on the ball as once we did they struggled to get it off us.
I initially thought that simon Hunt had been "run down" by a forward because the player was wearing a scrum cap but, on reflection and after looking at the video a number of times I think it was the Leeds full - he was also wearing a scrum cap.
None-the-less, if I were Simon Hunt I would be worried because he - Simon - a former strong running and speedy sevens player was completely out on his own and an under the post try should have been an absolute certainty. But it wasn't. It wasn't as if he had been intercepted from the front. He wasn't. It wasn't as if he had been held back. He wasn't. It wasn't as if he had to "round" the opposition. He didn't have to, there was no-one there in front of him. It wasn't as if he had been ankle tapped. He was clear, completely clear, without a soul in front of him. Yet he was caught from behind.
I feel that the only true sprinter we have who has the ability to run wide and make ground is Billy Robinson. Boy oh boy did he demonstrate that on Friday. Unfortunately, as with last season and the season before that Moseley do not let us see that creative side of their play - running backs - until the last few games of the season. Now I wonder why?
I agree with Oddsox. Leeds were big buggers. Even the little ones were big - and they were all quick.
Increasingly, that appears to be the trend these days.
Take our own former specialists speedy players.
Just like Ellery last season and Rodders before him, they - the big athletic number 8s - could engage in a forward battle for half an hour, break through on the half way line and still round and/or see off most wingers.
Even more embarrassing was when these number 8s hunted down a winger in full flight.
To be up against a big athletic winger - Lomu springs to mind - is one thing but it must be soul destroying for a winger having had a period of "rest" out on the wing to be seen off or hunted down by a forward of all players.
The only recent Moseley player who didn't fit that mould was Norton. He wasn't big as a player but when ne made a break no-one was going to catch him. Of all our current players Billy Robinson, for me, is the only one who could possibly live with Norton for speed. If only Billy had Jason Robinsons side step.
Ah well. Dream on. I think I'll leave my boots and walking stick in the spare room. Come on Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooose
