Post by Communications Team on Sept 27, 2012 10:28:59 GMT
TEAM NEWS: Bristol Rugby vs Moseley For immediate release Thursday 27th September 2012 Issued on behalf of Bristol Rugby
Liam Middleton hands Academy prop Will Davis his first ever RFU Championship start as Bristol look to return to winning ways against Moseley on Friday evening (7.45pm KO).
Bristol make seven changes from the side that went down 50-31 to Leeds last Sunday.
Ryan Edwards returns after a two-game absence, while Ben Mosses, Ruki Tipuna and David McIlwaine are also selected in the backline.
Redford Pennycook recovers from injury to start in the back row and Mariano Sambucetti plays in his 104th league game for the Club.
Middleton opts for a five forwards and two backs split on the bench, with Mark Lilley included in the 22-man squad for the first time season.
Bristol Rugby team to face Moseley at the Memorial Stadium on Friday, 28 September (7.45pm KO):
David McIlwaine; Ryan Edwards, Luke Eves, Ben Mosses, Matt Williams; Tristan Roberts, Ruki Tipuna; Will Davis, Rhys Lawrence, Bruce Douglas, Mariano Sambucetti, Glen Townson, Iain Grieve (c), Redford Pennycook, Mitch Eadie.
Replacements: Tom Channon, Wayne Thompson, Mark Lilley, Ben Glynn, Marco Mama, James Grindal, Matthew Jones.
Attack - the best form of defence - a well known military fact and a format reported in the Daily Telegraph Sports page Saturday 22nd September 2012 by none other than Will Greenwood, the former England and Harlequins centre. It makes for an interesting read and eloquently describes many of the succour punches Moseley seem extremely vulnerable to. ( I never realised that Will Greenwood was 6' 5" tall ).
And here you all are attacking me in defence of Moseley - and very commendable of you all for that - but are you all really honest with your thoughts and observations about both me AND Moseley? I wonder?
I, like many other deeply loyal Moseley supporters have been a Moseley player and supporter for over 40 years. I am also a shareholder and neither, my support for Moseley or my shareholdings are up for sale - far from it. As a loyal supporter I have witnessed some memorable wins and equally memorable defeats in my time.
If memory serves me well Moseley had a memorable game in a cup match against Bath at the Reddings. The ground was packed to the rafters and Bath were absolutely, unquestionably, cockily certain they could not lose, would win easily and be in the final. I was there. Bath lost.
Again, if memory also serves me well Moseley had a memorable game in a cup match at Aspatria - who on earth and where was Aspatria - in season 1988/89. Aspatria was and still is in Cumberland and not a million miles away from the Scottish boarder. Moseley, at top English team, regularly playing the likes of Leicester and Gloucester enticed out the Aspatria supporters who packed the local park pitch. It was a cold frosty day and I was there. Moseley couldn't lose but they did by a miserable 6-3, not even one between them.
My comments may seem negative to some with a blinkered, rosy glasses supporter view and in answer to one critic NO I am not perfect. I admit to being a perfectionist - as a former aircraft engineer I had to work as near perfect as was humanly possible - and, in an engineering discipline, I was constantly appraising and re-examining everything I did.
With a philosophical aspect to the aspiration towards perfectionism in all walks of life there has to be a matrix, a set of rules, a goal however you want to word it. For me that goal has always been perfection. I will never get there in a million Sundays but I always aspire to it in all its many subtle and indefinable guise. And to aspire to that perfection I have to walk the hard and difficult road - a road that is constantly under reconstruction.
With all that in mind and the "What iffs" in the above match report please consider my views as constructive. Of course one should feel proud and encouraged by the goods points Moseley can and do display but when LOTS and LOTS of good points in any one game are undone by just ONE or TWO thoughtless, stupid mistakes then the enormity, the ramifications the disastrous consequences are brought sharply into focus.
At the height of his career Casius Clay was the Undisputed World Heavyweight Boxing Champion. Clay was so skilled in his art that he was almost impossible to hit. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, was his motto. He didn't border on cocky, he was cocky. That was until he met "Our 'enrys 'ammer" which, in one quick counter punch - attack to defend - put the lights out for him. The rest is history.
I am working again Friday night but in my absence - Come on Moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooose.
It's an interesting post KHL, may be we see this game purely as damage limitation and blood what has to be said is a very young pack, four under 21's. I am still concerned at 2nd row, Powell who we were told was a linchpin and captain seems to be out of sorts, and I can't say I'm that pleased to see youngsters like Buster Laurwence thrust into big games in an unfimilliar position for the second week he has been asked to play, although I have no doubt he will offer his all.
It's an interesting post KHL, may be we see this game purely as damage limitation and blood what has to be said is a very young pack, four under 21's. I am still concerned at 2nd row, Powell who we were told was a linchpin and captain seems to be out of sorts, and I can't say I'm that pleased to see youngsters like Buster Laurwence thrust into big games in an unfimilliar position for the second week he has been asked to play, although I have no doubt he will offer his all.
Second Row is not unfamiliar to Buster, he has played there on a number of occasions including last season for Dings.
