Moseley 24 - Rotherham 42

[gary]

That was awful! Never again will I be deluded by meaningless pre-season friendlies into thinking (as I said in a post after the Northampton game) that we might surprise a few teams. If we continue like this they will only be surprised by how bad we are.

We were comprehensively outplayed in every facet of the game and the big worry is how easily our forwards were dominated by the Rotherham pack containing 3 so called Moseley 'rejects'. Gadd, Sanderson and Quigley all played really well.

Scrum demolished, line out poor, defensive alignments all over the place, ball retention poor, not many yards gained with ball in hand, innumerable penalties conceded etc. etc.

Cannot remember seeing Kevin Maggs look so depressed during a game. He now has his work cut out.

Can't think of any positives from this game. No, that's not fair. Penn, Armstrong and Williams look as though they could be threatening but will they ever get the ball in good positions?

The players need to have a good look at themselves after this performance otherwise we will suffer badly this season.

Very depressing afternoon. We were trying to work out which teams might be as bad/worse than us!

Not sure whether a trip to Plymouth will be worth it if this is the sort of performance we can expect.

Sorry to be negative but that's how it was.

Ps terrible loud music played non stop before and between matches.

[welshbrum]

Wow! We were really that bad today?!

[Admin]

Really that bad?

[redandblack]

Desperately looking for positives. I guess the only one is that Rotherham played really well with great power and movement, we played pretty poorly without any oomph, and yet we were still only eight points adrift with 15 minutes to go.

Things to work on this week - stop giving away so many pens, cut down on kicking away possession, protect ball better in the tackle, shore up the centre channel and just play with a bit more energy. For five minutes halfway through the second half we did up our game and scored a quick eight points - use that as the template.

Still, enjoyed the Castle Park experience - great ground and easy to intermingle with others at the game.

[sorrento]

Hugely disappointing. Tried not to build up expectations before the game, but it was impossible not to feel initial disappointment turn to resignation. Even when we got within one score it felt as if we were miles behind Roth in terms of performance.

Only straw to clutch on to is that this was Roth at their best and us at our worst. We should find that out in two weeks time !

[flatlander]

Poor defending, poor tactics. Craig Voisey was good when he came on. Very few positives, the better team won.

[studleyken]

It was as bad as that Neil/welshbrum. Just seemed to carry on from last year. Too many mistakes and penalties given away. Never seen so many missed tackles. We gifted them the points. They can only get better, hopefully.
Matt Williams scored the try of the game. Superb solo effort down the wing. Burnt off everyone. Real flier. He also made some good tackles. Simon Hunt also showed what a good winger can do with his try. Again a run down the wing. Like old times against us. Apart from that nothing much to be encouraged by.
Big disappointment though was. that at the end of the game, apart from the the few older hands, the team did not come over to thank the fans. Disappointed as they might have been with their performance, they would only have got encouragement from us. Still, some of us are planning a day trip to Plymouth next Friday. 1 game doesn't make a whole season. It can only get better. Come on you Mooooose and Mose Fans.

[gary]

Minibus going?

I might be interested depending on timings etc. or possibly a lift back after the game if there is space as I can down there with a friend.

I'm only 102kgs at last count so can fit in easily!

[Rich]

Do we know what the news is on Brightwell, looked to be a bad one?

[grooveavenue]

Old habits die hard. Another 3 minute try given away.

Its bad that Kevin found it necessary to call into question the "attitude" of the players after just 80 minutes of the season. Will the captain step forward please and offer up some comment on denial or acceptance of this?

I just hope that we the fans will not have to spend cold winter Saturdays on the Common without some belief that "things can only get better".

We just have to believe that it is all a settling time for the new squad. [though I wont exclaim that too loudly with Roth have 10 new signings playing on Saturday - or was it eleven?!]

The rest of the season to get it right, right?!

[kingsheathlad]

Plymouth 43 Jersey 27 .We are going to have a tough test Friday,.Rolling maul site suggests their threat is out wide not their pack so could be interesting.
Come on you Mose.

[kingsheathlad]

Correction 41-29

[kingsheathlad]

Pirates 23 Bristol 21 FT
I have seen two different results for Plymouth -Jersey so one is right I hope

[martinwatson aka Camera Shake]

Kevin Maggs in the Mail:

"Unfortunately we just didn’t turn up, we didn’t have the right attitude today and it’s not good enough. It didn’t come down to tactics or techniques. It’s about attitude."

If the problem was that we played our hearts out 200% and still lost to a far superior team, then it would indeed be a difficult situation.

However, we lost because of attitude. This means that we have a solution, and the solution is 'coachable'. It costs little in either time or money to change attitudes. Attitudes can be changed in very short timescales - an hour, a day, a week. So, on the positive side, there's nothing to prevent the attitude from radically improving in time for the next game.

It's basically down to the coaches and the players to get their minds right. (I don't know how they do that of course, but hey, that's why we've got Maggsy on board!!)

[Richie B]

Would have been much worse had Roth played like a side that knew each other. Reckon they left at least Four mor scores on the park. Pack were awful but The 10, 12, 13 combination is completely toothless. OT just doesn't threaten the line and just gets the centres gang tackled. Hopefully Maggsy will think again there and Ollie will be told that he must play flat. Agreed his goal kicking kept us in it for a while along with Roth missing chance after chance but it's just not enough for a 10. Wingers look good but they will just have to live off scraps I'm afraid. 15 messed himself when faced by the Roth 8 in full flight! Don't often witness such blatant tackle avoidance at this level. All quite depressing really.

[philhall]

Agree with Richie B that Mike Penn "chickened out" of tacking Rotherham's number 8 To'oala - it stood out like a sore thumb - but he To'oala was allowed to run at Moseley, from deep, far too often.

At least Moseley are not bottom thanks to London Scottish and if we are to take some "positives" from the negatives on Saturday the 18 points difference in the score equates to at least the sum of 6 of the (many) second half penalties.

One could say it was revenge by the referee having to play in pink, but I doubt it - even though he was awful - after all Greg Macdonald, a Moseley number 10 until he turned to refereeing, had a good game.

That aside, one very effective but simple incentive for Moseley to be in with a chance to win any future game will be to cut out the penalties. Perhaps that is easier said than done. We shall see, no doubt.

I was given no encouragement to cheer Moseley on Saturday but as my livid frustrations have now subsided I will make an effort. Will the team follow me and do likewise???

Come on Moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooose.

[CJB1]

That Roth No 8 was a big lump (and I was puzzled that he was taken off), and would have scared the living daylights out of me ... but a No 15 is supposed to put himself in harm's way, agreed.

Good points - Ollie Robinson worked hard, shame about the yellow card. Greg King was also tackling for his life, and could have used some more support. Matt Williams showed his speed and his preparedness to defend, and Penn made some useful territory with ball in hand. Alex Woolford looked reasonably sharp when brought on. Simon Hunt's try was well-taken, but he's not really a 13, is he?

Bad points - gaps in the line that Roth burst through time and time again. Back row slow to the breakdown, so lack of competitiveness on the ground. Pack going backwards, though Quigley's illegal binding went totally unpunished, which can't have helped, and his gut is now so large it deserves its own shirt number. Disapponted with Burrows, he didn't make any ground in the tackle, and was dispossessed more than once. Kicking ahead - for gawd's sake please sort out whether we're kicking for touch, for territory, or to chase. Ollie's got a fine boot, but it wasn't used well on Saturday, with some of the high balls being too long to chase but not deep enough to give Roth problems, and we just had it run back at us with interest.

Anyway, we spent too little time in their 22, and they had plenty in ours. The ref *was* poor, and I reckon worth 5-10 points to Roth (Penn was taken out chasing his own kick and Roth were allowed to run it back for a score, no offence according to Sir, this was just the most egregious example of imcompetence), but they were clearly the better side, no doubt.

[Steve@Mose]

Mail:

Moseley plummet back down to earth against Rotherham

Moseley's Rotherham hammering branded 'unacceptable' by Kevin Maggs

Star:

Titans get flier as Socino returns

[Steve@Mose]

Mail: Simon’s left Hunting for silver lining

[Communications Team]

Match Photographs courtesy of Chris Lowe now available to view on the club website

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