I am surprised not to see a recognised No10 starting, especially with one on the bench. We struggled horribly only last season for that exact reason (IMHO).
Mose 32-30 Mowden Park. Last kick of the game penalty from Ollie Allsopp wins it, but we nearly threw it away from 29-11 ahead. Work to be done on defence, and fitness too by the look of things.
Second half tactics were woeful. Gave away two very soft scores because of needless kicking. Which was a shame because we looked dangerous with ball in hand in the first half.
Second half tactics were woeful. Gave away two very soft scores because of needless kicking. Which was a shame because we looked dangerous with ball in hand in the first half.
Totally agree - far too much kicking the ball away. We also, unfortunately, couldn't convert two glorious chances in the second half when Aquile chased a clearance and nearly won the race and Sam knocked on in a similar position. Line out better but misfired on some crucial points when we were in their 22. Personally I would have put Ryan Roach on sooner. A number of players looked liked they were injured at the end of the game - Ollie, Matt and Tom. Ollie came off holding his ribs - it will be a major loss if he is missing for a few games. Game management, once again, is sadly lacking. Darlington are a competent team but not one we should have allowed back into the game.
I’ll take the 5 points but there are 2 things that stand out to for me
1 We can’t tackle, there’s only 4/5 who tackle correctly, falling off so many tackles, it’s like watching a bunch of matadors. If you can’t do the basics you ain ’t going to win many games and you’ll pick up injuries.
2 Game management is non existent, or appears that way. When you get into a 12 point lead with 20 mins to play you need to kill the game, keep possession, no aimless kicks and not still be chasing the game going for the hail mary plays.
Post by kingsheathlad on Oct 22, 2022 18:01:29 GMT
I couldn't make the game, but I wasn't expecting us to get anything from the game, although some negativity mentioned above, so happy and surprised with 5 points. Onto next week against Rams who I understand beat Roslyn Park, so come on Mose, let's be having another 5 pointer.
Won the game at the end of the day but we shouldn't have been in that situation where we needed a last minute penalty to win it. We should have been out of sight by half time but we let them back in second half which is a familiar theme. Need to be more clinical and improve defence if we want to be a top 6 side
DMP always looked threatening and although we won, they took 2 bonus points which keeps them above us in the table. Last home game we allowed Hull to score 4 and claim a bonus point.
I thought our defence was generally good in the first half but needs consistency. And the line out started well, but late on, after defending well near our own line and earning the line out from the resulting penalty why the overthrow which put us back under pressure??
It seemed we didnt let anyone down! The silence of the crowd at 60 to 79 mins indicated our insider knowledge of how the habit of letting teams back into games was still with us. Lots of missed tackles put us right there. Thankfully there was some great 5yd tackling too to thwart DM along with a better controlled scrum with a much improved lineout on the very plus side. Habits are difficult to change but those last minute pen points maybe gives us impetus to rid our game of collapses. The reaction of the squad on the final whistle would seem to indicate that they were, lets say, pleased, to rid us of this depressing spell. So 5 pints for 5 points hopefully will return to my week end diet more regularly hereonin.
The match programme gave us a great tribute to Keith Hatter by Roy Kerr. I felt as if I knew Keith and witnessed him play and contribute so fully to Moseley Rugby. Thanks.
Sorry, didn't realise I'd posted. Was agreeing with Chris on boxkicks.
I have bought up before here, even at International level, are kickers hoping for an opposition mistake or to contest the ball? Either way we don't need that & are doing OK with ball in hand.
Slippery DMP second half fightback stuns the Moseley faithful.
On a lovely, warm, autumn afternoon Moseley entertained fans with an equal measure of sheer delight and utter frustration as they took on a very slippery Darlington Mowden Park ( DMP ) on the common. Last week at Bishops Stortford Moseley, well into the second half, conceded 26 unanswered points which cost them the game. They did the same thing against Hull the previous week but managed to hang on for the win. For some unknown reason this season Moseley seem to switch off for 10 minutes or so in the second half of matches and allow the opposition to rack up points. In the match programme Adam Balding, Director of rugby said this “...just unacceptable both from our performance as a team and to the fans who travelled to always show their continued support to the lads…”. Were the Moseley faithful going to witness yet another second half 15 minute switch off, or were they in for a treat? With the gentle to moderate breeze behind them DMP kicked off downhill and, playing an fast, expansive style of play immediately took the game to Moseley who defended well. It didn’t take Moseley long to find their own slightly slower rhythm and after around 5 minutes or so some excellent Moseley line speed create an overlap for Ollie Allsop to score and convert a try on the stand side of the posts. 7 – 0. What a brilliant start. Moseley Pavarotti and the faithful were well pleased. Both sides were playing some exciting cut and thrust, out-wide rugby. DM always looked the more dangerous, slipping / avoiding / or off-loading in the tackle whereas Moseley had the edge in the scrum. Both sides defended well and although DM made the more spectacular lightning breaks, which Moseley absorbed well, the well supported Moseley raids more than made up for the lost ground. One of the Moseley breaks on the opponents 10 yard created a brilliant 3 on 2 scoring chance but the wrong option was chosen and the moment was lost. However, a penalty for Moseley shortly after took the score to 10 – 3. On 15 minutes a DM line-out on the half way caught Moseley out. DM took a clean catch at the back of a line-out, dropped the ball down to the number 9 who off-loaded to the out-side centre coming in on a sweeping arc. He slit a couple of Moseley defenders, barged his way through two more, before making Sam Pointon look silly as he rounded him to score a superb unconverted try at the club house end. 10 – 8. Moseley did not panic. They had no need to. They were playing well. They remained focused, took the game to DM and shortly after created a well-supported try themselves. DM conceded a penalty near their 25 yard line and the lively Moseley scrum half Matt Marsh, taking a quick penalty, made a clean break; Tom Benjamin in support dotted the ball down for a 2nd converted try. With just 20 minutes on the clock Moseley, playing with constructive purpose were now 17- 8 ahead. The supporters were getting quite excited now. Could it last? Although the quick DM line speed constantly stretched and broke the Moseley defence, the Moseley cover defence was working well in snuffing out any thoughts of DM camping in Moseley territory. However, Moseley conceded a penalty for O/S at a ruck which DM duly kicked to close the score to 15 - 11. The Moseley three-quarters were having a half decent day and before long quick hands and a good half break by the Moseley scrum half Matt Marsh put the supporting David Langley in for an unconverted 3rd try just before half time. The Moseley faithful were delighted at the 22-11 half time score. The Moseley team as a whole were playing well. The scrum was secure; the line-out was working well and with 3 tries and an 11 points cushion could Moseley come out all guns blazing in the second half, maintain their disciplined composure and continue on to glory, or ………….. Within 10 minutes of the second half the Moseley faithful thought they had their prayers answered when a long, long kick ahead into clear space had Aquile Smith flying down the left wing. It was a race twix him and the crafty DM full back who was just close enough to deny Aquile scoring. However in the ensuing panic DM conceding a penalty for not releasing. The much improved and reliable Moseley line-out produced a superb catch and drive converted try by Sam McNulty near the posts to extend the score to 29- 11. The Moseley faithful, along with the Moseley Pavarotti, were absolutely delirious with excitement. Surely, this was the day the Moseley second half bogey was going to be well and truly nailed to the mast. Sadly ‘twas not to be as DM, from the kick, off stole the ball off a Moseley player on the half way and in the blink of an eyelid it was out to the left and Henry Hadfield who rounded and shook off Sam Pointon to score an unconverted try in the top corner make the score 29-16. 10 minutes later following a period of rugby ping pong DM counter attacked from their own 25 line, spun the ball down the line and scored DM’s 2nd unconverted try in the far corner. 10 minutes later Moseley had a clear chance to score again following a good chip ahead by Ollie Allsop but the ball was lost in the pick-up. DM counter attacked again down the left wing and with an excellent well supported in-out move winger Hadfield scored a converted try in the top corner. With the score now 29-23 DM, with their superb ability to counter attack from anywhere, had their tails up. And so it was because with less than 5 minutes to go DM won a penalty on the Moseley 10 yard line, played the free ball advantage, ran at Moseley, bundled a couple of players out of the way, cut inside and scored their bonus and converted try under the posts again to put them ahead at 29- 30 ahead with minutes left to play. The Moseley faithful were stunned into a palpable deja vu silence as their worst fears seemed to be unfolding them - yet again. Could the fickle finger of fate find a favour for the faithful followers in the final few minutes? It did as DM conceded a penalty to Moseley for not releasing in the tackle. Oh joy. Oh such wonderful, wonderful joy; a last gasp penalty chance to win the match right in front of the posts. With the memory of Don Fox, Wakefield Trinity, missing a similar match winning sitter at the 1968 Rugby League Challenge Cup final at Wembley, I waited with bated breath for Ollie to split the posts. And he did. And the ref blew the whistle for full time. And the Moseley faithful erupted in euphoric relief of supressed frustration. Yet again a second half 20 minute capitulation period overshadowed the previous 60 minutes of solid, honest endeavour which included lots of spectacular, star spangled excitement. Moseley can play; Moseley can defend; Moseley can win. If only we knew why Moseley has these unexplained moments of madness? Why, oh why, oh why?
Ever get the feeling you missed your vocation Phil? Unless you actually were a sportswriter. Lovely stuff, and sums up my feelings entirely, not that I was there!
It was a good game against DMP - very watchable, even if some of it was with fingers over the eyes.
I spotted a Wasps hat and a couple of Wuss shirts were in front of me - I hope they were entertained enough to want to come back and maybe gain some affinity with Moseley.
The performance was generally good and Ollie Allsop had a great game. The short chip over the defensive line is definitely something Mose need in the armoury; all too often, we have seen Mose go from side to side without much progress, but this keeps the defensive line on their toes because great line speed is not much good if the ball is behind you. It worked much better in the first half than the second half though where the kicks were too deep and did lead to at least one score against us.
We butchered two tries early in the second half and all the good defence we'd seen was counting for nothing as attackers were waved through. A loss would certainly have been harsh overall, but not exactly undeserved given the massive drop in intensity. Is this in the mind or the body?
