Moseley 36-26 Llanelli

[Communications Team]

Moseley 36 (15-23) 26 Llanelli

Moseley:
Tries: Penalty (2), Pienaar,Thomas.
Conv: Hunt, Thomas
Pen: Hunt, Thomas (3)

Llanelli:
Tries: Phillips, Price
Conv: Williams (2)
Pen: Williams (4)

[observer]

British & Irish Cup

Pool 1 - Cardiff 14-23 Bristol
Pool 1 - Ulster 49-19 Bridgend
P2 - Bedwas 23-48 Bedford
P2 - Stirling County 40-25 Neath
P3 - Swansea 43-17 Dundee High
P3 - Cornish Pirates 44-32 Carmarthen Quins
P4 - Newcastle 52-5 Cross Keys
P4 - Newport 18-14 Connacht
P5 - Jersey 20-20 Pontypridd
P5 - Leinster 47-18 Leeds Carnegie
P6 - Gala 27-23 London Scottish
P6 - Moseley 36-26 Llanelli
P7 - Aberavon 21-25 Rotherham Titans
P7 - Plymouth Albion 22-26 Munster
P8 - Doncaster Knights 29-30 Melrose
P8 - Llandovery 28-21 Nottingham

[andyj]

Good game that Mose generally bossed. Pack was on top most of the game with the ref awarding 2 penalty tries to us. Thought that Ben Pienaar was immense.
Some unnecessary tactics from Llanelli - particularly when Simon Hunt was chasing a kick through - shirt pulled like something from football.
Some interesting subs including Dave Hilton.
Would like to roll London Scottish over next week, I spotted in the clubhouse that Chevvy Pennycook is on the list of the top try scorers so far this season. I also spotted that Mose are bottom of the table in respect to attendances. I must say I still find some of the attendance figures hard to believe - the Newcastle game surely had more than was reported.

[MCGB]

Would have to agree with andyj, a great game and a well deserved win.
One Llanelli fan was getting very irate about loosing, blaming the ref and questioning why they are in the competition any way, apparently they lost because they are in the heineken cup - well I hate to say it, but if they play in that like they did against us then they wont get very far. I think he just couldnt face admiting they were beaten by the better team on the day.
It was nice to see a fully commited performance from Moseley and I cant remeber the last team I saw leaving the field looking so battered and bruised after playing us.

[welshexile1963]

Brilliant game, the boys bounced back after last week. Well done boys keep it up.

[fas175]

Great game today! Front five get man of the match for me today continuous dog work throughout, I think it will be a bigger test next week! Ollie Thomas should have started maybe, but I suppose it was the cup. Come on mossssseeeee!

[Rich]

I have heard a rumour that Greg King has damaged a ligament in his knee...

[ale]

Rich, from what I understand it could be the end of his season, which would, in my view be catastrophic as we have absolutely no cover. Shaggy isn't a centre, but can do a job, surely Maggsy will not join Dave and put his boots on proper. Good win today and the team need congratulating on that, but if we take another knock next week we could be in trouble, I would think that Maggsy has little option to field a very selective XV that protects the vast majority of regulars. God forgive if we picked up a front or second row injury....

[studleyken]

Another 80min performance by the team. Intensity, passion and skill did not diminish when the subs came on. We bossed them in the scrum, all game, and their only answer was to use spoiling tactics, for which they payed. No man of the match today, everyone of them deserves equal praise. And it was not even our 1st XV. Hope Kingy is not as bad as he looked.
Come on you Mooooose.

[CJB1]

Medial ligament tear I hear, not good at all. Olly T did well at outside centre today but it isn't his natural position and in a league game would probably not work. Need cover urgently.

Key to the victory today was discipline. We kept ours during the second half, they lost theirs, Olly kicked the penalties and the scoreline showed it. Add to that the final dominance of our pack and we had 4 tries for the bonus too. Hilts has clearly not lost his appetitite for the game, even if he won't be expecting more than the odd 20-minute burst.

Surprised at Simon Hunt's place-kicking, assume he was just having a bad day at the office, we know from bitter past experience that he can be much better than that.

Stars of the day, Buster Lawrence yet again for fine catching in the line-out and industrious work up front, Olly Robinson for some surging gains off the scrum, Olly Thomas for adventurous running and accurate kicking, Billy Robinson making some excellent runs from FB, Simon Hunt for probing runs up the wing and the pack as a whole for making mincemeat of bigger opposition.

[Admin]

Couldn't make the game yesterday, but sounds like I missed a stormer. However reading this mornings Rugby Paper I can only say I'm disappointed that we could only attract 580 fans to this game. Especially as there was no local football matches being played this weekend.

[observer]

Anyone got any theory as to why the attendance was only 580?

Some possibles (not intended to be my thoughts - just possibilities) may be omore of the following:

- Season ticket holders not aware cup games are included in the price and therefore stayed away?
- Lack of publicity (locally or nationally)
- Lost all home games prior to this one
- The Cup isn't seen as a 'serious' one
- Opposition not 'attractive' (not disrespect - but if it was.......say.......Munster would it be higher?
- Prices too high for 'non league' fixture.........would a tenner have attracted 40% more (ie would a lower price = higher revenues for the club at the gate and/or bar/catering)?

Can't have been the weather - perfect for Mid October.
Anything else it could be attributed to? As Neil says - there was no top end footy locally or anything partic on TV (Don't think?)

[Admin]

Perhaps, as stupid as this may sound, in future when we are aware there will be no local football games we offer Birmingham City, Aston Villa, West Brom & Wolves season tickets holders discounted entry??? Obviously on production of a valid season ticket. More money taken behind the bar the better, plus better ticket sales, can't be a bad thing.

[kingsheathlad]

With regard to injuries and cover for knocks can we not approach Northampton

[kingsheathlad]

to be fair to the club the use of the season tickets at B &I games was laid out in the application form.
I think attendances are down generally at most clubs but I did notice Stourbridge have higher gates than us, but if you are winning regularly it brings more in. I seem to remember when we wer in NL1 we had gates over a 1000 I am sure but we we winning more than we were losing.
Finally it has been said before we are not a rugby city despite our population and I can't see football supporters coming to watch rugby when there are blank dates at Blues and AV

[kingsheathlad]

I think Buster Lawrence has been the signing of the season, his all round play and he don't mind getting stuck in when it gets feisty.
another player who deserves a regular start is Wilkes, he offers so much around the pitch.
Anyone know why Ryan has been playing at Stourbidge I thought he looked quite sharp in one of the pre season games when he came on.?

[willbassett]

Fingers crossed Greg's injury isn't a full tear. Presumably nothing will be certain until he's had a scan. According to Twitter it's the other knee this time, not the same as earlier in the season.

Re attendance - not surprising given how seriously most clubs (Moseley included) have taken it. However, as I stated on an earlier thread, £17 for match-day entry is just too high. Surely it's worth trying a cut price game in the B+I cup to try and get a few more people along in the hope that they decide to come back again?

[Littlemissminx]

Spoke to Greg King after the game he is hoping to be back for Doncaster game so not as bad as people think, certainly don't think it's end of his season.

[welshexile1963]

I wouldnt particularly want footie fans there if they behave like they do at footie matches!! I also agree Sam Wilkes has been a great signing.

[philhall]

I don't think much to the idea of "inviting" football fans to rugby games when they haven't a game of their own to go to. You either want to go to a rugby game or you don't want to. If there was no rugby within a million miles of Moseley when we did not have a game I wouldn't even dream of going to a football match. I don't even bother to watch it on the tele - and that's free.

I went on a managers "Jolly" to Wolverhampton football ground many, many moons ago and the viciousness and intimidation of the Wolverhampton supporters who turned on the "West Brom" supporters in my party when West Brom scored first was unbelievable. I vowed never, ever to go to another football match - and I never have, or will.

Give me rugby any day - and specifically MOSELEY. And I am so sorry I couldn't make it Saturday to cheer the lads on. Come on Moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooose.

[studleyken]

Agree completly with WE and PH regarding football fans. Different mindset to Rugby Fans. Notts and Bristol have a fair average of the football brigade and if you happen to get tickets that put you among them, there is a completly different atmosphere compared to the friendly, fun atmosphere amongst the Rugby Fans.

[Admin]

I understand why people would be wary of the football fans however without people at games the club does not exist. We have seen numbers drop over the last few years, the recession doesn't help at all. Getting new people in to watch is surely the way forward. Seems a bit pointless having the best pork nap in the country if no one is there to eat it?

[Steve@Mose]

Match reports:

Birmingham Post
Sunday Mercury

[stevep]

Got to say Neil has a point! I've brought friends whose first love is football to rugby matches, and they've had a great time. What's the biggest difference they pick up on? The friendliness, the respect the players show the referee, and the opportunity to drink lots of good beer. ;-)

Good for the bar take if nothing else!

[londonexile]

I've seen the football fan mentality that Phil mentioned at a Cricket 20:20 match. I saw a Hampshire supporter wearing a Southampton shirt punched by a Middlesex supporter. So just because they are watching a different sport doesn't mean football rivalries are ignored or forgotten. One of the nicest thing about going to rugby is the chance to share a drink and a chat with the opposition supporters.

[Westcountry Mose]

I started watching Moseley in the early 1970's before switching to football. However, I 'returned' to watching Moseley largely because of the 'rugby family spirit' and the commitment of the players/staff. I have since persuaded a couple of friends (who used to watch the Villa and the Blues) to join me and they are now firmly wedded to watching Moseley. We should encourage and welcome any potential new supporters but make it clear that abusive/threatening behaviour will not be tolerated.

[coverdale2]

Whilst i agree we dont want football attitudes to find its way into our fantastic game, i think we must also try not to tar every footy fan with the same brush. Im not a football fan myself, infact i hate the sport and its culture but i also know that there are mostly decent people who attend football grounds. I think a lot of the problems we have with attendances and also with getting people to come to the away games on the coach, is we dont promote it nearly enough! i talk to so many people who dont actually realize we have a top rugby club in Birmingham. Its very sad but very true! Of course there is a recession and that will definitely effect the way people think about what is basically a treat at the weekend. But maybe that is what works in our favour as far as football supporters go. It costs an extortionate amount of money to watch a bunch of over paid panzy cheats diving around everywhere who are more concerned about there fararis and rolex watches than the honour of winning fairly! If we could somehow entice the decent supporters to at least witness at least once the beauty and entertainment in our sport and probably more importantly the friendly atmosphere and respect our sport has, then maybe we could convert a few to come over and attend on a regular basis.
I do also think that if people did come and cause bother, there is enough of us to make a stand and tell them we dont want there sort in our game!
Basically we need to promote Moseley much better than we do...and we can all help in this. Even if its just printing off a fixture list and posting it at work or in schools or anywhere we can. I firmly believe there are a lot of people out there who would love to come to Moseley but just really dont know whats going on!!

[thecrab]

What a differance aweek makes. After Newcastle we showed our recovery powers against Llanelli. BOTH SIDES provided entertaining rugby.The overwhelming difference was the dominance of the Moseley pack.They were giving away size and weight es pecially in the second row.Our supperior technique produced two penalty tries (the record is three against Coventry) PS QUESTION our new guy in the front row,could he be making an international comback.

[CJB1]

Report on Llanelli RFC website.

[CJB1]

Report from South Wales Evening Post.