Moseley are home again this weekend hosting Rosslyn Park looking to build on last weekends result. Book your tickets now via our website, last few hospitality spaces available to stay warm this weekend. It's only £34 for your ticket, hospitality and food, or £17 for season ticket holders.
The MSA are running a coach to Taunton on the 20th Jan, see any of the committee at the desk on Saturday for more information or contact via the usual channels.
Yes, it went to the last (missed) kick, but earlier conversions also missed with one hitting the post. Five of our last six matches have been decided by three points or fewer, so these things are becoming more important.
Another close match against a team with a similar record where we played to the end, after RP opened up a nine point gap.
So sad, so very, very sad I could cry. On a perfectly calm day for goal kicking Moseley scored the same number of tries as Ross Park, 5 but whereas Ross Park only missed 1 conversion Moseley missed 3, the last conversion - taken in absolute silence to win the game - went agonisingly narrow which gave Ross Park the win. So sad, so very very sad.
Defensive lapses cost us the game today, we were playing catch up for virtually the whole game. Thought we also spilled the ball a lot in open play. Great spirit to take it to the last kick and another dominant forwards display. We've taken 6 points off Park this season so a big improvement.
Disappointed, but looked well out of it at one point during second half. So nearly pulled off another late win. Is Tighe M Whiteley a young lad I should be giving more time to? Never fills me with confidence kicking. Although he did create an excellent try first half.
Another nail biter and down to the last kick. I think Rosslyn Park just about deserved the win, too many errors from us. It’s the small things in these games now, conversions missed, kick directly into touch, penalties given away in our own half. These are the things that win or lose these tight games. Tighe has been decent but the difference between us and the top 4 teams is that they have a 10 with a massive boot who can get territory when it’s needed. The 10 at Plymouth, the Sedgley 10 and yesterday. Everything revolves around them. That said, our forwards were great, never take a backward step and deserved more. Lineout and scrum we’re up there with the best in the league. A win needed at Taunton where we could go 4th, if results go our way. Having said that, they nearly won at Richmond yesterday so it won’t be easy.
I thought our forwards were superb - solid in the set piece, several devastating rolling mauls, great ability to break the line and always tenacious and competitive at the breakdown. Unfortunately, we were undone by the speed, directness and strength of their back line - who ran right through us in the middle of the pitch on at least two occasions to score - our tacklers wrong footed or over-run. And yet we stuck to it and always came back - could potentially have had a couple more tries apart from knock ons and spilling the ball at crucial phases. And in the end it all came down to that final conversion in the last seconds of the game. The silence around the ground for that kick was quite extraordinary - even slightly off-putting! I'm a great fan of Tighe - whose kicking has been very reliable - isn't he our leading points scorer? - but he was on the bench at the start of the game. In the gathering gloom I missed his entry onto the pitch - but perhaps whatever kept him out of the starting 15 - someone mentioned a knock - was the difference in the end. But all in all watching this side - their determination and resilience - takes me back to the Mose of old - which I'm quite happy to be sentimental about! Let's hope we can come away with the spoils next week - there's every sign we should be able to. Come on Mose! It's a pleasure to watch you these days.
I still feel desperately sad about the match lost yesterday. I know the lads lose matches - that is the nature of the game - and had we been playing with a gusty wind yesterday, a wind which could have blown the last coversion anywhere, the miss could have been less disappointing. But it wasn't and it did and I felt and still do feel so gutted.
And the eirie silence from all supporters in the ground for that last kick - something rarely witnessed - will remain with me forever. It stands to reason that Rosse' players and supporters, on the one hand, were praying for a miracle miss whilst the Moseley players and suppoorters, on the other hand, were praying for a joyful conversion. Never before has the famous ( slightly modified ) Shakespheare qoute "To be or not to be, that was the question" been more pertinent.
And whilst I concur with most of the above comments about the game I can also align with Bob's comment that "...I'm not sure that naming individuals on here negatively is particularly constructive...". However, due to the specific nature many aspects of sport "The goal keeper had an awful game" it is very difficult not to identify someone by default, as it were.
Comparisons, both positive and negative are generally broad and open to invitation ... "The speed, direction and strength of their back line - who ran through us in the middle of the pitch on at least two occasions ..." (Jones comment above) is one such example. Similary, "...The line-out and scrum were up there with the best in the league..."(banjo comment above).
"Fortune favours the brave" ( a Latin proverb traditionally attributed to Publious Terentius, the Roman playwrite ( known as Terence for short ) and close games more often come down to fortune favouring the brave. For example, the confidence to remain focussed catching a high ball when half the opposition is bearing down on the receiver, something witnessed a number of times yesterday by both sides, And there were some lovely clean breaks by both sides - some leading to tries, many not.
And of course individual skills, some outstanding are all too often on display when two teams such as Rosse and Moseley are evenly matched. For example Charlie Walker, a winger, for Rosse and Ollie Stedman a number eight for Moseley. We all know that 'keeping the danger men quiet' leaves opportunities for other to shine.
All players have good spells and bad spells, often in the same game. And Farrell, the Englnd Captain and one of the most reliable of goal kickers had difficulty splitting the posts in one game recently.
Pressure, sometimes obvious, sometimes not so, affects us all in some form or other. I was there, at Wembly, in 1968 when Don Fox, Wakefield Trinity, had an 'impossible to miss, sitter' in front of the post to win in the 1968 Challenge Cup final for Wakefield. He missed.
Similary I can say I was there, at Moseley, when Tighe, in the last seconds of the match, lined up for the conversion kick to win the match for Moseley. Tighe too missed - but his goal kick was not a sitter in front of the post.
I feel better for looking objectively at the 'unremembered moments' in yesterdays match. I say unremembered because the mind will all too often subconciously delete significant positive moments in favour of one significant negative moment.
I did notice one Rosse player imediately console Tighe and he missed the goal kick and that, for me , was greatly appreciated.
Come on Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooose. THere will be next week to look forwards to.
Yes. I wanted to mention the Rosse players who approached our kicker at the end of the game with condolences. The message "It's happened to us all" expression on their faces. Rugby sportsmanship still exists. I think all of us imagined the same headlines from the day - scrum great, lineout great, defence too easily opened on the day. Fortitude, never say die attitude exemplary . Park had plenty too. If we constantly have to score 4/5 tries to squeeze out a result or any loser bonus points we may guess where the problem lies. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it; most did until that Trick of the Tail (Genisis) sorry Twist in the Tale (Deep Purple) at zero hour!
I thought yesterday's game was pretty entertaining on a boggy pitch. One kick at the death was a 6 pointer - successful and Mose would turn 2 bonus points into a try bonus win, unsuccessful and just the two points. It wasn't so much the final kick as the one which hit the post from a much more favourable angle which sticks in the memory. Nevertheless RPs Marfo and Smith were the two outstanding players on the pitch for my money. That said, this Mose team is as a resilient as I have seen in many a year and Ollie Steadman leads from the front in just the right way. I have not seen his like since Wag Mason. RP are a good side at this level and Mose, at times, matched them and more. Let's hope we can keep the majority of this squad together for next season because there is surely more to come and the benefits of continuity have been clear for all to see.
