Birmingham Moseley 20-20 Esher

[Communications Team]

Match Preview

by Glyn Barlow

Following the disappointment of leaving Blackheath empty handed last weekend the team have the perfect opportunity to make amends when old friends Esher visit Billesley Common this Saturday.



Recent seasons have seen the two team’s paths cross many times in the Championship and National One the last being the trip in October to Molesey Road when Birmingham Moseley won an ten try encounter 27-32. The game was notable for Mark Harrison scoring four tries to equal the clubs league try scoring record. More of the same this Saturday will guarantee another exciting encounter.



Since that match Esher have enjoyed mixed fortunes with impressive wins against Blackheath 28-19 and Darlington Mowden Park 33-26 being tempered with losses to Cambridge 10-13, Loughborough Students 49-38, Caldy 15-7 and Rosslyn Park 44-37. Prior to last weekend’s 38-27 win over Hull Ionians the team has to look back to 25th November for their last victory, against Fylde 50-12. A 29 all draw with Ampthill earlier in January does suggest, however, that the team can still deliver a strong performance.



Esher Currently sit in 12th place, just 5 points away from Birmingham Moseley in eighth, meaning that this game has great significance to both teams. A bonus point win for Esher could see a rapid rise up the league ladder while Birmingham Moseley need to start delivering some consistent wins in the next few games to stave off the four teams all within a win away from them, and start to haul in the likes of Bishop’s Stortford and Old Elthamians just above them.



This season Esher have proved to be very adept at try scoring, their 12 try bonus points being the third highest in the league. Wing / centre Tom James, hooker/back row Billy Harding and wing Kariym Irving are all currently leading the way with three apiece.



Despite having lost last weekend at Blackheath Birmingham Moseley can take positives from the fact that this performance was a significant improvement over their 14-55 loss to the same opponents in October. Another fine performance from the pack came to nought as the team were unable to find a way to convert possession and position to points until a 79th minute try and conversion left them just short of what would have been a well-deserved losing bonus point.



The foundations for more victories have now been established in the forwards, who can stand toe to toe with any team in the league. Since the New Year the team’s defence has improved vastly, averaging just 15 points conceded per game compared to the an average of 26 points conceded in November & December.



The key now will be for the backline to find ways to unlock the oppositions defence. Achieve that and the results will start coming our way. Let’s hope this weekend sees the final part of the jigsaw fit into place.

[profiterole]

It is 5 o clock and we still do not know what the team is the club is rapidly slipping down hill i used to read it in the paper on a wednesday !


i hear the army boys are away on duty and may not return again this season. this leaves us light in the forwards (literally - mr bean is a big boy) and with two less potatoes to play in the back line. We may strugglge in this regard and i am a little worried

where has greg king gone has he fallen out with powers that be as well ?

bring it on esher

[kingsheathlad]

The team is shown on match team page.

[Phil]

Feb 2, 2018 17:16:15 GMT profiterole said:

It is 5 o clock and we still do not know what the team is the club is rapidly slipping down hill i used to read it in the paper on a wednesday !


i hear the army boys are away on duty and may not return again this season. this leaves us light in the forwards (literally - mr bean is a big boy) and with two less potatoes to play in the back line. We may strugglge in this regard and i am a little worried

where has greg king gone has he fallen out with powers that be as well ?

bring it on esher

Hi Ciaran 🙄

Tom Fidler
Ryan Roach
Jay Tyack
Buster Lawrence
Brendon Snyman
Jacques Le Roux
Josh Poole
Ciaran Moore
Sam Brown
Sam Hollingsworth
Mark Harrison
Ollie Allsopp
Tim Molenaar
Afeafe Haisila
Andrew Fluker

Adam Caves
James Tideswell
Chris Brightwell
Rob Lewis
Reece Beddows

[Communications Team]

Feb 2, 2018 17:16:15 GMT profiterole said:

It is 5 o clock and we still do not know what the team is the club is rapidly slipping down hill i used to read it in the paper on a wednesday !


i hear the army boys are away on duty and may not return again this season. this leaves us light in the forwards (literally - mr bean is a big boy) and with two less potatoes to play in the back line. We may strugglge in this regard and i am a little worried

where has greg king gone has he fallen out with powers that be as well ?

bring it on esher

Team always released on Friday’s so not sure what paper you have been reading on Wednesdays

As has been discussed before on here Greg has a long term injury, and has not fallen out with anyone.

Army players have commitment to play in an army fixture, pre-agreed, no surprise and no issues with return.

Any more “fake news” you would like to announce?

[sorrento]

The team was announced on the club's Twitter page before 2 pm this afternoon.

[grooveavenue]

Too many profiteroles me thinks for profiterole !! Can Comms tell us how many times has Greg been mentioned in despatches about........GREGs LONG TERM INJURY? Quite a lot more many times than squad announcements on Wednesdays I believe!!

Wednesday team call?This is not an international final 30 squad, is it?

[philhall]

I am deeply, deeply concerned that profiterole, a new member, is rather unkind in his use of the derogatory term 'potatoes' to describe players "in the back line".

Normally 'the back line', in rugby union, is a term used to describe 'the back row', 'the back three', or 'the flankers'.

If I understand correctly profiterole is saying that the Moseley "back line" which includes Chris Brightwell and Jaques Le Roux, the former a Kiwi international and the latter a Portuguese international along with Cairan Moore, Lawrence Cowen, Buster Lawrence ( Captain ) and Josh Poole - of which any three from 6 will give ANY back row in the division a hard time - are potatoes.

I find his remarks to be downright rude, unkind at best and downright dishonest, rude and disrespectful at worst.

We are all free to voice our opinions, that is democracy, but there is both a written and unwritten protocol which should ALWAYS be followed in all aspects of giving ones view, particularly when those views are given in public.

Of course there are weaknesses in the Moseley squad, as there in in all the other teams in the league but I have NEVER, EVER known of players setting out to play badly. They always play to the best of their ability and they always will. Not all rugby players are good enough to play for ENGLAND. Similarly, not all players are good enough to play at National 1 - but at least they do train, they do make themselves available, they do travel and, injuries aside, they do play to the best of their ability in all weathers.

And just to remind profiterole that GREGG KING has a long term injury, which EVERYBODY BUT EVERYBODY except profiterole, obviously, knows about.

I feel sure that I am far from being a lone voice in condemning profiteroles for these unwelcome and offensive remarks. Moreover, I also feel that true Moseley supporters would support me in requesting that the Moseley board take every effort to identify profiterole and withdraw membership, permanently.

On a final note I would love to see profiterole address each 'potatoe', in person, face to face and tell them that they are, in profiteroles opinion 'POTATOES'.

What say others?

My support, as always' is expressed thus;

Come on Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooose

[observer]

Feb 2, 2018 23:55:17 GMT philhall said:

I am deeply, deeply concerned that profiterole, a new member, is rather unkind in his use of the derogatory term 'potatoes' to describe players "in the back line"..............
......................
I feel sure that I am far from being a lone voice in condemning profiteroles for these unwelcome and offensive remarks. Moreover, I also feel that true Moseley supporters would support me in requesting that the Moseley board take every effort to identify profiterole and withdraw membership, permanently.

On a final note I would love to see profiterole address each 'potatoe', in person, face to face and tell them that they are, in profiteroles opinion 'POTATOES'.

What say others?
.............

Since you asked Phil..........IMHO the best way to respond to 'fake news' is simply to correct every time it's posted. There's plenty of people posting on here that can pretty quickly do this.

If this is done then
1/ if the poster genuinely believes what he's posting, he/she'll be informed and may alter their view.
2/ If it's mischief making (for whatever reason) then he/she will either be seen as ridiculous (and lose any credibility) or get bored with being constantly corrected and desist/find somewhere else to post fake news.

The time and effort in trying to identify a culprit is better spent doing something more useful - that benefits the club.

[andyj]

Not the greatest of games but weather probably played a part on what was another bitterly cold afternoon.
Game never really got going. Mose’s pack was on top for most of the game and from the platform they created we should have ran out comfortable winners.
Discipline let us down with Esher kicking 5 penalties and missing one I think.
Another strong performance from Ciaran Moore despite being sin binned in the second half.
I am not sure why the ref didn’t award us a penalty try when we were camped near their line.

[philhall]

I am always reluctant to blame a referee but Buster asked the referee just why Moseley were not awarded at least one penalty try and he ( Buster ) said that the referee told him that Moseley were not 'close enough to the line'. I ask you just how close must close be? Moreover, the referee had little concept of 'playing advantage' because, apart from the odd occasion, he blew his whistle, rather than hold his hand out at the first hint of a penalty, thereby nullifying any advantage in progress.

Moseley were clearly on top in the pack the whole game but shot themselves in the foot too often through conceding penalties. Apart from the first clear penalty for off-side in the very first minute I had no idea what the other penalties were for. Signals given by the referee did little to inform the watching supporters so we had to make our own assumptions.

However, although the game developed into a rather dull and boring affair Moseley provided what entertainment there was with some spectacular scrummaging and three well taken tries. In addition a couple of potential tries were missed through the aforementioned lack of penalty advantage and at least one more when a glaring overlap after around 20 minutes was not exploited.

Esher, on the other hand, capitalised on Moseley penalties kicking most of then and keeping them in the game. Indeed it was their very last penalty in the very last minute, a penalty in the first minute and a penalty in the last minute, which enabled them to share the spoils.

Moseley were disappointed, as were the supporters, but in this topsy turvy 2017 / 2018 National 1 season we have to be grateful for small mercies and use the experiences as building blocks for the season 2018 / 2019.

All the same two points were better than nowt so, as always,

Come on Moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooose

[sorrento]

After negative comments on here about Roach's line-out throwing, I kept a careful eye on our line-outs. We won every one on our own throw with a clean catch.

[londonexile]

Feb 4, 2018 14:39:19 GMT sorrento said:

After negative comments on here about Roach's line-out throwing, I kept a careful eye on our line-outs. We won every one on our own throw with a clean catch.

I also thought the lineout went well in the previous game, against Blackheath, in much tougher conditions. I hope the club can retain Roach for next season.

[andyj]

Is Lawrence Cowan injured?

[andyj]

Feb 4, 2018 21:42:54 GMT andyj said:

Is Lawrence Cowan injured?

Should read Laurence Cowen!

[dingle]

Birmingham Moseley scored three tries to Esher’s one but the scoreboard at the final whistle only showed 20 points a piece. Two team in this week’s fixture list came away with a win when their score line stood at 3 tries to 1 try.
However, as previously mentioned - the kicking department needs to improve drastically!





More images at www.dingleimages.com

[martinwatson aka Camera Shake]

[Phil]

Birmingham Moseley 20 Esher 20: I cost us the game, says Moseley try-scoring ace