Well folks. I have read Glyn Barlow's match preview and can certainly agree with him that the team whose club colours are Red and black will, unless they draw, win the day.
See you all Saturday. Come on Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooose
15 . Nick Foster 14 . Jake Lloyd 13 . Alex Pickersgill 12 . Markus Burcham (Capt) 11 . Craig Dowsett 10 . Mark Cooke 9 . Stef Liebenberg
1 . Tom Williams 2 . Mike Perks 3 . Danny Herriott 4 . Jamie Ure 5 . Tom Stradwick 6 . Tom Baldwin 7 . Josh Poole 8 . Tom Burns 16 . Dan Lamb 17 . Harry Seward 18 . James Catt 19 . Jack Daly 20 . Henry Staff
Agree that it was a big improvement, but 8 points were left on the pitch (2 pens, 1 of which hit the crossbar and 1 conversion). We kicked everything in the first half up the slope and never got into the 22 with ball in hand. Just before the break, 0-3 down, we opted for a very long distance attempt at goal when a kick to the corner was at least an opportunity to get a foothold in the game.
Second half was much better and we took the lead with an unconverted try - I am reliably informed by a Mose supporter that Buster's pass was considerably forward - but that was to be the end of Mose's scoring. Mose almost hit the line a couple more times but Blackheath defended well. The last play of the game we almost won the scrum against the head, but it wasn't to be.
Disappointed, but not too down-hearted. We are 11th in the table but 10 points behind third and 11 points ahead of third bottom.
Well folks. As I said tuther day I didn't expect a win today, so I am not unduly disappointed. More to the point though is Moseley certainly played much better today than last week. Indeed towards the end of the second half I was a little - just a little - hopeful that the sustained Moseley pressure might just have got that second try and thus the win - but it was not to be.
Fate cast her spell, the referee stopping play for an Blackheath player injury in the last few minutes - just as Moseley were in the ascendancy - which meant that at the resultant re-start and the Moseley scrum when the Blackheath defence was more organised the momentum was lost.
But it need not have been that close had Moseley played with a little more vision and width.
From the start the Moseley played with quick ball which took play away from the set piece and ruck where Blackheath were slightly the more organised and around which their game plan appeared to hinge. Moseley, by contrast, attempted an expansive game with that quick ball, but only really as far as the centres. However, it didn't take long for the ping pong kicking game to raise it's ugly head and here Blackheath were noticeably the better at creating advantage by tapping the ball back to their oncoming players rather trying to catch and set the ball.
And then, at around 5 minutes gone the Moseley scourge of a conceding a penalty in their own half gave Blachkheath their chance to open the score with the first of their 3 penalties and although Moseley scored the only try of the match their goal kicking - including two easy kicks - went AWOL today.
But it was an entertaining game in many respects. As I have said already Moseley were much better today but came up against a well organised Blackheath defence which kept them at bay for numerous periods of sustained pressure. And it was here, the nature of this sustained pressure, where I felt Moseley could have been a little more expansive instead of pounding away with white line fever. Two or three players 'loitering' aside from the forwards melee, pulling the opposition defence apart, could create the opportunity for a well rehearsed training ground move where the full back takes the ball, at speed and in space close to the line. Result, an almost certain try.
The Moseley handling today was a vast improvement from last week and much comfort should be taken from that. And there were attempts at the little chip through, a well known counter to a rush defence. More of it please Moseley. And there were quite a few clean breaks, particularly in the second half - one started by Louis Roach from nothing but carried on by Buster with a try in the corner as just reward. In fact Buster had quite an industrious game today constantly breaking the gain line and creating scoring opportunities. I felt he merited the man of the match, but it was not to be.
I felt that Moseley today were just a little rushed in the execution of their play. I know a rush defence is designed to 'pressure' the opposition into rushing things but a couple of astute chip ahead will soon make any rush defence think twice.
Had Moseley taken all their goal kicks - they do, more often than not; had Moseley just thought a little more outside the 'box' and looked up just looked up a little more - they can do - they might just have snatched a brace of tries and won the day - but they didn't.
All that aside it was a much more entertaining and 'satisfying' loss than last weeks debacle.
Onward and upward.
Come on Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooose
Sorry, but that was a game we should have put to bed in the 2nd half. Something isn’t clicking.
Totally agree - much improved performance with real team spirit. However, I still think we kick too much ball away and we are prone to receiving the ball almost standing still. Missed kicks hurt us but we should have wrapped the game up when camped on their line. Thought Buster and Morgan were outstanding.
Forwards and backs to a man were magnificent today just not out day special mention to Matt Spink who I thought had a great game coming off the back of last week's debut with a few games under his belt I think he may surprise a few people
Game of small margins! BM played better rugby but 3 penalties and a conversion missed that's 11 points plus a try so the final scoreline should have been 16-9. Their fly-half Mark Cooke kicked 3 out of 3. Blackheath also defended very well not to conceed any tries in the last 20 minutes! Buster Lawrence had an outstanding game once again. Match photo's link
Massively improved performance. Clearly there was a problem with the kicking as those would have normally been converted. Apart from that we played well. Some great defence under a lot of pressure. And we put them under a lot of pressure at times. And we're unfortunate not to convert this to points Far better discipline. And yes. We ciuld/should have won. Here's to next week. Let's hope for a win
