Moseley v Northampton Saints Thursday 22nd Aug @ 7.30pm

[Communications Team]

        

Moseley v Northampton Saints
Thursday 22nd August
7.30pm KO at Billesley Common

The Moseley Big match Preview is now available on the club website

Click here to read match preview

Don't forget admission is only £5 for adults (children free)!

[Communications Team]

Car Parking
Northampton game – Important please note

As we are hoping for a good crowd for the visit of Northampton it is worth noting some matters regarding parking for the game.

• At present the member’s car park in Swanshurst School is inaccessible due to building work being undertaken over the summer shut down; therefore all members are requested to use the main car park off Yardley Wood Road. We are working to ascertain when the car park will be available to us and will advise in due course.

• Please do not park in the roads around the ground.

• Please approach the ground from the South, up Yardley Wood Road only, as there will be no right turn into the ground approaching from the North i.e. from the Brook Lane island, or across from Trittiford Rd. If approaching from West or North Birmingham, please go around the Common in an anticlockwise direction i.e. off Wheelers Lane down Hollybank Road, and then left up Yardley Wood Road

• There is no parking for rugby supporters in the area around the Tennis Complex or clinic at the entrance to the Common. Please respect this.

As we progress the planning application for the new facilities the club will again be under scrutiny on its abilities to ensure it does not detrimentally impact residents & other Common users during match days. Anyone not supporting the guidelines above could seriously jeopardise our ability to gain permission for the new facility. Please help us to demonstrate that Moseley is a good neighbour.

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[professor]

Saints team announced - some familiar faces on show
www.northamptonsaints.co.uk/News/TabId/90/ArtMID/526/ArticleID/1083/Saints-team-named-for-Moseley-trip.aspx

Are we maybe a little disappointed in the strength of this team? I know Saints play Edinburgh on Friday, but perhaps a sprinkling of Premiership players may have helped pull a larger crowd?

[Rich]

Diggin is well and truly a premiership player! I think they will certainly prove a test for us; we certainly don't need any of our boys receiving one of these

[professor]

Yes, I agree - I believe he may also have played on the wing in the last game of last season, against Bedford? I was just comparing the team sheet to the one sent to Bedford last week - I'm just thinking a larger contingent of local fans, and even traveling Saints fans may have made the trip if there had been more 1st XV squad players involved. Not a criticism, just a thought...

Any change of a team sheet for Moseley tonight? Will we see Buckley, Hafu, King, Armstrong??

[Communications Team]

In fairness Professor the starting Saints XV has the experience of 264 1st team games between them. As with Moseley last weekend it's only to be expected that Saints will be looking to give younger players the opportunity to show what they can do in pre-season. Plus we well know what the likes of said young players like Day, Waller, Stephenson etc are capable of.

We still expect this to be a very competative team which will test Moseley all the way.

Should be a great game.

[kingsheathlad]

Firstly I don't know who got carried off in the first half but hope it was not as bad as it looked but did see ambulance turn up.
Great game, competitive , some hard hits in the tackle. Acouple of near tries at the start of the second half could have changed the result, however plenty of positives from the performance and could not see any negatives.
Moseley 32 Northampton 38

[gary]

Terrific game. Congratulations to both teams.

Thought we looked a far more complete team than in previous pre-season friendlies. Plenty of options in the pack and backs and our new acquisitions in the backs (Penn, Owen, Williams and Armstrong) all looked lively in attack and solid in defence. Front row options look good although we seem to be still trying out hookers. Second row looks good with the athleticism and youth of Hill and Woolford or the 'big lump' Powell. Brightwell looked good at 8 and we look to have a lot of competition for back row places.

It looks like we may be able to field strong squads with impact subs this year.

The player injured was Anthony Carter. Looked bad but let's hope for the best

I'm trying not to get too excited based on the one performance but I think we might just surprise a few teams this year.

Congratulations to Kevin Maggs for resisting the temptation to make constant changes. I thought this gave us some much ended continuity.

By the way I enjoyed the excellent pork baps and thought the announcer was great.

New season, positive attitude on the field and off.

[Oddsox]

I was told it was Shaggy carried off - yes didn't look good.

I didn't see a team sheet - but loads of positives. Both wingers great Matt Williams is v swift & will score loads of tries this year. No 4 won lots in line out - hope he's one of ours. Real pace & direction from Moseley well done. I don't know the strength of Northampton team - but we did really well & looked fit.

If Moseley can stay clear of injuries, real optimism for this year.

Cum on U Moes....

[CJB1]

Shaggy should be ok, he was just knocked out cold for a couple of minutes so has to go in for observation as per the rules. Nothing broken.

Lots of good things on show, but when league season day 1 comes, I would expect some of the showier, riskier stuff to be reserved for when we're 20 points up. So not very often then.

A lot of really good defence, and two of Saints' scores arguably resulted from (un)lucky bounces of the ball.

A bit of work on kick-off and restarts will help.

Nice to finish with a penalty try in our favour. Some strength in evidence in the pack, even with make-do hookers being used due to injuries.

[observer]

Saints overcome spirited Moseley for second pre-season win
Northampton Chronicle & Echo

Saints racked up their second pre-season win in the space of seven days with a 38-32 success against Moseley at Billesley Common.


But the largely second-string Northampton team were pushed all the way by their Championship opponents, who possessed a number of Saints, past and present.

Tries from Sam Dickinson, Howard Packman, Vasily Artemyev, Tom Stephenson, George Wacocoke and Tom Collins, plus six points from the boot of Sam Olver and two from Harry Mallinder ensured the win.

Moseley, though, showed plenty of spirit and scored four tries of their own, with rapid wing Matthew Williams and No.8 Chris Brightwell the stand-out members of the home side
.

.............................. full report at:
www.northamptonchron.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/saints-overcome-spirited-moseley-for-second-pre-season-win-1-5417064

[observer]

And...... post match reaction:

"Dickinson’s delight as Saints youngsters shine in Moseley win"

www.northamptonchron.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/dickinson-s-delight-as-saints-youngsters-shine-in-moseley-win-1-5417306

[welshexile1963]

Really enjoyed the game lots of positives again, considering the team has lots of new players they have gelled quickly and showed a lot of promise. I am excited at the prospect of the coming season.

Also good to hear Anthony hasnt broken anything it was awful to see him carried off like that, get well soon and get back on the pitch you are a vital cog in the upcoming season.

[philhall]

Superb game. Am off to werk now but as I fancy writing some Moseley match reports this season will knock one up later when I come home.

Come on Moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooose

[grooveavenue]

Got to admit not one for friendlys. Chop and change and no continuity. But from what I read of the last two matches I think I have missed a 10 quid treat. So its 70 points (?0) in two matches. Not a bad return no matter what ever the circumstances. Fed up now.......roll on le Saison Real!

[Richie B]

Not wishing to cast a shadow over the upbeat mood on the board as I do think we have recruited well this season and thoroughly enjoyed the game last night especially the performances of Matt Williams and Brightwell. However I’m cautiously optimistic and am reserving judgement until we face Rotherham, real quality opposition for the first time. With respect to Newport they were mid table finishers last season in what many consider to be a fairly weak division. The Saints squad on show last night was nowhere near as powerful as we faced over there last season. With the exception of 6 fringe senior players it was almost exclusively Academy. To put it into perspective aside from Sam Dickinson the side that finished the game was largely 17-21. That said the young lads on show are some of the best in the country for their age.

I’ve been a bit disappointed with the quality of the pre-season friendly opposition much as I have enjoyed seeing high scoring games. Can’t see the point of the next one taking on Hartpury College who play in National 2 South, the fourth tier of English rugby. I would much rather have taken on stronger opponents in pre-season as I feel you learn far more about your players.

Good to see us scoring tries at a good rate though, 10 in the past two matches, if we can sort out the defensive frailties as we've leaked 9 so far.

[jds]

I think that games like that are less a warm-up game, but more of a live training session - the chance to try things in the heat of a match, having to react to all the situations that cannot be replicated in training.

I say this every year, but I do believe that mid-table has to be an attainable aspiration this year. If we can remain competitive and close down close games we can surely do it...

Recruitment seems to have been good and the side, from comments posted here, seems to have both solidity in defence and spark in attack. Hopefully the god of injury will smile upon us this year and I hope that the youngsters who stepped up to the plate last year will kick on from that

It's good to see things progressing of the field too - slowly but surely has to be the mantra.

Good luck to all and best wishes for terrific season.

Jon

[Gerald the Fish]

My only worry is that Chris Brightwell and Matt Williams are snatched away mid season in the same way Charlie Hayter was.

[Rich]

Aug 23, 2013 9:46:07 GMT Richie B said:

The Saints squad on show last night was nowhere near as powerful as we faced over there last season.

Just in case you would like the details to compare:

Saints team announced for Moseley’s friendly August 22, 2012

Northampton Saints have announced their team to face Moseley tomorrow:

Northampton: Noah Cato, Tom Collins, Tom May, James Wilson, Scott Armstrong; Stephen Myler, Martin Roberts; Alex Waller, Mike Haywood, Tom Mercey; Alex Woolford, Tom Hicks; Rhys Oakley, Ben Nutley, Mark Hopley.

Replacements: Ross McMillan, Danny Hobbs, Danny Herriot, Jamie Warr, Darrell Dyer, Jack Allcock, Ryan Glynn, Will Hooley, Luther Burrell, Tom Stephenson, Alex Wooton.

[MSA]

Moseley v Northampton
22 August 2013

by Phil Hall

Twas a barmy summer evening, the skies were clear and Pam and I were at the club. There were lovely, pretty birds all around as well, many in the club, and boy, was my heart all a flutter. Erm, I don’t mean my heart was in a flutter because many of the pretty birds pretty and “in the club”, as such. I mean they weren’t up a tree, just that they were in the club, club. Can a bird be up a tree and in the club at the same time? I couldn’t possibly say. It would have to be a small tree wouldn’t it to be in the club; mind you a miniature Japanese bonsai tree would fit in the club and a wren is a pretty and small bird, so a wren could be in “the club” and up a bonsai tree at the same time. Mind you some I have seen some very pretty wrens in my time but up a bonsai tree?

No, my heart was a flutter because Moseley, having played some exciting rugby against Newport last Saturday was here to play against Northampton and would Matt Williams score again. Anyway, Pam was with me so I couldn’t be seen to be looking at the pretty birds too long, not like I do through our patio window at home.

I only recognised one Northampton name, Oliver the hooker. And it was little use reading out names without a team sheet for either team because I could only just about remember some of the Moseley names never mind put faces to them, but I will in time starting, with Matt Williams. Isn’t he something special?

He reminds me of Berwyn Jones a three “A” sprinter who turned out for Wakefield Trinity in the 1960s, speed and lots of it. And I rather suspect that he has Jones’ acceleration to go with the speed, which is even more important, I feel when tackling back, which he can also do. Anyway, back to the game.

In the Newport game I saw more line breaks and deftly executed, one handed, off load passes, in the tackle, in that one game, than I have seen cumulatively from Moseley in the last 5 years. It was bliss, such bliss, a joy to behold; and with such confidence. And the swarming attack; the seemingly omnipresent support player; the player on the shoulder to take the pass; the player supporting the tackler; the player covering a position; the player covering back was always there. It was fabulous, absolutely fabulous.

Would this continue against Northampton, or would Moseley “play safe” and try to keep the score down?

Did they ‘ummas like. Moseley had no fear of taking the game to Northampton, no Siree; neither did they intend to stuff the ball up their shirts, no Siree; neither were they wary of spinning the ball down the line, no Siree!

And at the end the Northampton pack had nowt left in ‘t tank sithee. And the spectacular driving mauls in the last quarter of the game were thrilling to watch as the Northampton pack was taken by the scruff of the neck, ground down, bullied and murdered in the tight and the maul. Superb.

Northampton were lucky, very lucky to win the game and well before the end were well outplayed by a more confident, committed, skilful, resurgent Moseley side. Indeed, had Moseley been a little more composed; a little less excited on the Northampton line with about 10 minutes to go they would have been in front and would have stayed there. No shadow of the night. And if a very unfortunate bounce had not gone backwards over the head of our full back then Northampton may very well not have scored.

It was a superb, exciting game and the Moseley standard of fitness; the commitment: the style of play for this season to come has been laid down in clear, unequivocal form. And never mind about “spinning the ball” just for the attraction in a pre-season friendly. Why on earth should Moseley go to all the effort of pre-season training, practice and endeavour just to play 3 pre-season, free scoring, high quality rugby games? It just does not make sense.

The only blot on the night was the injury to Anthony “Shaggy” Carter. We were worried for you shaggy. Good luck to you. Get well quick and let’s see you back on the pitch very soon.

Moseley have the coaches, the players, the skills, the team spirit, the commitment to do something special, something very, very special this season.

Go for it Moseley, go for it; take the loyal supporters with you and take the glory which is there for the asking.

Come on Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooose-ley.

The Moseley Pavaroti.

[dingle]

Photo's uploaed on my website www.dingleimages.com for this exiting match.
Some pics are bit 'muddy' due to the time of the KO coupled with the uneven lighting. Did notice one of the lights was only partially lit.

Any constructive crit welcome!

[kingsheathlad]

Dingle.
Excellent photos .Thanks.