Doncaster Knights 24 Moseley 16

[observer]

Doncaster 24 (21 - 3) 16 Moseley

Doncaster
Tries: Lewis 2 ; Conversions: Lennard ; Penalties: Lennard 4

Moseley
Tries: Pienaar; Penalties: Thomas 3; Conversions: Thomas

Match Report: South Yorkshire Times

www.southyorkshiretimes.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/match-report-doncaster-knights-24-moseley-16-1-5069674

[philhall]

Disappointed that Moseley allowed a gig lead to develop - yet again and lost a losing bonus point to a penalty at the death - yet again. I just do not understand it - particularly the penalty at the death. Surely it is common sense to legally defend the line and risk a try against them- which may or may not happen - and lose be more than 7 points anyway rather than illegally defend the line and risk give a penalty away - which probably has a better chance of happening - and lose the bonus point.

It really does make me sad that silly things like this happen right at the death and we lose valuable bonus points. That, and poor starts risk tagging Moseley as "the come back kids" and "penalty at the death merchants", labels they must drop them as a matter of urgency.

Sorry I couldn't make the game but i did follow the score on score update. Thank you team score update.

[philhall]

Just noticed. The clock is an hour slow on the message board or has someone ended BST a day early? I sent my message at 8:19 am not at 7:19 am.

[grooveavenue]

Phil Clock has always been the case. I started to think I was good at predicting scorelines!

[studleyken]

Phill, they were well beaten yesterday. They did not look 1/2 the team of previouse matches, gave away too many penalties and made too many mistakes but they also looked gutted with themselves when they came off the pitch. I,m sure it will only make them more determined to do better against the Pirates. Someone said they had a horrendouse journey to the game and arrived really late which could have accounted for their slow start. As the "come back kids (and most of them are still very young)" they won the 2nd half but this time by not enough. My main worry is that they sustained more injuries and for our thin squad that is not good.
Having said all that, I'll be there next week supporting as loud as ever. The season's nowhere near over yet and this team can only get better. (as long as they can work out the lineout) Lets get behind them.
Come on you Mooooose.

[grooveavenue]

Phil,

My comment last night on another moz board was that we were playing against 14 men for 30 mins of game. We need to take big advantage of this next time around. Sometimes game plan is interupted by opposition down to 14 and there may be a feeling by coaches that to stay with game plan tactics for game is best for 80 mins - for some teams anyway. Kevin's insight into this would be interesting.

Moz are at the point of development where these hiccups will always hit hard. Its good they can come back and from what I read last night Knights were on the back foot most of 2nd half but were obviously resolute in defence - Moz have been there many times.

Some claims on twitter that ref was incompetent. I looked on Knights site as they may have had great cause to complain, with 3 men in the bin. But no real comment (last night at least) just the comment "excellent game" or the likes.

Me thinks its the difference between winning and losing. Lets see if those at those at the game have other comments on referreeing standards

[coverdale]

Yes the ref was appauling but to be honest i dont think that made the difference. For the first time last night we witnessed frustration not only from the fans but also from the players and coaches alike. They are starting to look bimused by the whole thing.
Basically its just not clicking at the moment. Unfortunately we cant keep using that as an excuse! There is no doubt we have a very talented group of young players but we just dont seem to be able to find a consistent level in our play. We do have many injuries now which is only going to make things harder but we need to find the right combinations and the Plan B combinations for want of a better way of saying it.
The first half last night was the worst half i have seen us play for a long time. We were shocking!! The second half we improved slightly but to be honest i thought it was a very poor game of rugby where neither side really looked like scoring! And yes the ref didnt help but when you have inept cowardly touch judges along side him its never going to be good.
However, we cant blame the ref for this. Its time for everyone to stand up for Mose and be seen, heard and counted. The Pirates game is a huge one now and i urge everyone....if there is one game when the boys really need us its this one. Lets get as big a crowd as possible. Tell your friends and family to get down even if its just for this one game. Lets really push this one and give the boys a real boost. They need us right now and we can play a huge part in what happens for the rest of the season. Im convinced it will come good eventually, even after standing in minus conditions watching that dross last night i am still 110 percent sure we will eventually do the job. Lets believe and get behind Maggsy and the boys and we WILL make the difference.
Come on you Mose machine!!!!!

[kingsheathlad]

It was one of those nights where nothing went right pretty much from the start, injuries as well and a referee making strange decisions.Having said that he did give us a chance by dishing out three yellows in the second half but we still did not take the opportunities when they came and missed some penalties that on any other day Thomas would put over with no trouble.I could not understand the referee's decision withe the last two plays when Buster Lawrence had the ball was tackled and their forwards piled in over the top and gave them a scrum.With an extra man with their second row off with a yellow I thought we had the shove on but he pinged us for wheeling which gave them the penalty to take our losing bonus point away and then blew for time. hay ho what do I know about the game. roll on to Saturday and a win .

[Admin]

Full Time : Jersey 20-17 London Scottish

Bottom of the table looks like this:
10 : Moseley - 9pts
11 : Doncaster Knights - 8pts
12 : Jersey - 5pts

[Richie B]

Taken me all weekend to come to terms with the result Friday. It was such a big game for us and a real chance to put a bit of daylight between us and the bottom two.

Unlike a few others on the board it's my view that the referee had nothing at all to do with the results and indeed yellowed two of their players which should have been enough opportunity to put the home side away. Donny were very much there for the taking but the basics let us down badly. Well documented issues in the lineout but the scrum was also in a bit of trouble on a number of occasions Decision making at penalty time was also puzzling, know Ollie missed a couple of gimmes but I counted four possible shots that were spurned in favour of a touch kick or a rashly run penalty. Also when their 6 was binned we opted to kick for a lineout rather than a scrummage 8 m out which was a very strange call considering we had the man advantage . All really puzzling in such a tight and important game.

Credit to their winger who scored two good individual tries but some untypically poor tackling in the 10-12 channel cost us on both occasions. It's something that has been fairly tight in the league games to date and was a bit disappointing.

Thought we really missed Sam Brown when he was replaced, indeed both the halves appeared to get rather over excited in the last quarter and as number of rash decisions cost us promising field position.

Have to feel for the boys though with the amount of injuries before and during the game. Hopefully we'll have a few back for the Pirates game and I'm sure we'll take Donny in the return.

[philhall]

Have been looking for the mail / mercury match report for the Donny game but can't find one. Was the performance that bad it wasn't even worth the effort of a match report. Hope to see the game Saturday against Pirates - hopefully the full game - hopefully a win - hopefully a good win - hopefully a try bonus win.

[Admin]

RFU Championship: Doncaster Knights 24 Moseley 16 Just for you phil

[philhall]

Oh dear, Oh dear, Oh dear. What a description of a Moseley team performance - a Moseley team whom many think can take on any championship side at any time anywhere this season and beat them at their own game. And consider also the fact that Donny played for 30 minutes with one player short. And there are those out there who question my so called "negativity" in pointing out my views on questionable elements Moseley performances. Oh dear, Oh dear, Oh dear.

Consider the season so far. Bedwas gave Moseley a very good game away from home and as a result confidence was high. Next were Aberavon, who were expected to be stiffer opposition but Moseley - to their delight - turned them over with an excellent forwards dominated game. Billesley was to become a forttress Pre Championship confidence was never higher. Bring on Bedford.

On a beautiful, sunny day perfect for the running game - a declared Moseley aspiration - Bedford knocked seven cans of fertiliser out of a miserable Moseley performance. The defeat was an abject lesson that actions speak louder than words and team Moseley had their pre season expectations of some good running performances and a lofty end of season league placing temporarily on hold.

Never mind though Bedford caught Moseley on the hop 'as it were' and they would bounce back the next game. And so along came Nottingham, a game Moseley "could have" and, so it has been said "should have" won. but they didn't and there was little if any positives to take from the game. But the Moseley team was a brand new, young team still in it's infancy and needed perhaps a little more time to gel. Jersey was the perfect opportunity to cement relationships and put together a good performance.

Well, there was a game at Jersey, I was there, but the new boys showed Moseley how to run wide and indeed scored two splendid tries from wide sweeping counter attacks. They didn't win but they demonstrated a natural attacking flair in their game plan. I felt that Moseley won more by benefiting from basic Jersey mistakes rather than their dominance.

Plymouth - who were and still are ridding high in the league was another game Moseley "could have" and "should have" won but, according to reports, failed to turn up for the party. Needless to say Moseley lost. Oh dear, Oh dear, Oh dear. Moseley were back to their old ways. Give the opposition a good start and try to catch up. What on earth had gone wrong?

And then there was Bristol. Ah yes, your all saying, Moseley won that game and away from home. A splendid performance and a well earned victory. The team had at last got there act together the rest of the season was onwards and upwards. Well done lads. Bring on Newcastle Falcons.

Newcastle Falcons duly turned up and provided the next stern test and although the lads ran out of steam towards the end they never-the-less gave Newcastle a run for their money. Still never mind, the team were gelling nicely and confidence was high. Let us use the next two British and Irish cup games to try out different combinations. And so it proved.

LLanelli gave Moseley the opportunity and the moment to cement that confidence and Moseley took it lock stock and barrel with a very good all round forward dominated win. And then, with a young team not good enough to be in the Championship - or so London Scottish thought - they gave the Scots a 20 point start, two easy tries and still beat them away from home. Confidence was really high now and it was felt that, perhaps, onwards and upwards was not a blue sky aspiration.

And so off they went to the next hurdle on their way up the table, Doncaster. I went to Doncaster last year but I got the kick off time wrong and arrived there just as half time was finishing. I missed a dire first half and witnessed a moderate second half but they still lost. Surely history would not repeat itself. Seemingly it did as this years game was once again a dire first half followed by a not much better than dire second half - and with an extra man for 30 minutes. Oh dear, Oh dear, Oh dear. Just where do we go from here?

Well, for a start I WILL go to the match on Saturday. However, if and it is a big IF, if Moseley fail to "turn up for the party" again on Saturday against the Cornish Pirates then I must give serious thought as to whether or not I pour good money after bad in supporting away travel. A loss in itself is not the end of the world. I have always said that there is no shame in losing PROVIDED the team perform to the best of their ability.

Supporting home games is not a problem, it never will be. The funds will always be allocated and non refundable - not for a moment that I would even consider asking for a refund - but away games are on a need to go basis and the way Moseley have been performing of late the need to go is in danger of turning into a need NOT to go. So come on Moseley, play the game and make sure that the WILL and the NEED to go is not in doubt. Come on Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooose.

[studleyken]

Phill. What you say is probably factually correct but you cannot think the team do not battle to the end. They want to succeed whereas last season they would probably have just gone through the motions if it was not going right for them. The squad is not as big as others in the Championship and injuries affect it more than other teams. When they get the full or near full squad fit they will be good enough. They have shown it in patches so don't give up on them, follow them to the end. It's still early in the season. You've been following them too long to turn fickle now.
Come on you Moooooose and Mose supporter.