Thank you RednBlack. In essence I agree with Dave Hilton regatrding breaking the gain line because Moseley do and quite regularly too - and then they find themselves isolated and go to ground without support and give away a penalty for holding on, or they try to offload without looking around and give it to the opposition, or they fail to see support either side and die with the ball, or they knock on when passing, or they knock on when receiving. What they rarely do is look round for support or even provide good swarming support.
Oh how I envied the Kiwis on Saturday. When ANYONE of the Kiwis broke the gain line there was support in abundance and when whomsoever scored there were still a couple of players over the line with him in support. How often do you see a Kiwi take the ball when stationary? It's as rare as hen teeth, or rocking horse manure.
Now come on Moseley.You can do it. You have shown us more than a couple or so times that you can run and support with the ball in hand and score. Ok, all but perhaps one or two have come from set moves but how about developing your broken play and incorporate elements of set moves into broken play. As I said earlier in the season there is often no better defence than attack - and stop kicking the ruddy ball away unless there is absolutely no option.
The number of times I have heard Maggsy shouting "keep the >@:~{( ball in hand" as someone once again hoofs it up in the air. And when you kick off get someone up there in amongst the opposition - don't wait for them to catch and set. Come on Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooose.
Still don't buy it Phil. Can't think of any successful sides in 40 years of watching/playing the game that have managed on 30% possession. If you can't provide good ball from your own set piece it allows the opposition to dictate the game. If your only tactic is to run it makes you easy to defend against and is a high risk strategy in the bad weather which we get a lot of. Kicking from hand has always had a place in the game and always will when there is nothing on (even in 7's). Hope the set piece issues are being addressed in the fallow week!
Tries are on Carnegie site Phil. What u won't see is number of scrum pens given away and how no 8 had to cope with difficult ball at the base. He picked up once in the first half and was marched back 20m behind the gain line. Fairly grim viewing but it does show our wobbly line out and our inability to cope with the driving maul. Sunday Leeds shunned numerous kickable pens to set up opportunities for the maul. Basic tactic but extremely effective on the day.
