Last week at Gala was as much about a team getting support from the fans. The Gala fans made a great difference so next Saturday lets really get behind Mose and help reverse the result. The team is more than capable, all it will take is the extra lift we, the fans, can give them. SO LETS BE VOCAL. COME ON YOU MOOOOOSE AND MOSE FANS.
I watched the Gala highlights Moseley and I rather feel that Moseley lost it rather than Gala won it. I also could not fail to notice that, ONCE AGAIN, our hooker and a second row forward were manning the three-quarter line when the Gala No 15 almost got through.
It really does disappoint me when the players claim to "learn" from their mistakes yet this one - forwards in the backs, usually a hooker and a second row - crops up as regular as clockwork. One cannot help but beg the questions. Why are they there and where are the centres??
The other fact that stood out about the Gala clip I saw - and was a direct and positive contribution to both of the Gala tries - was support. I couldn't see clearly from the clip but the first try seemed to be after Cavsey was sent off - a stupid, stupid late tackle.
It was a Gala scrum near the Moseley 22 and instead of playing defensive flankers Moseley played a number 8. Naturally Gala spotted this and played the doubly blind side, the scrum half supported and scored. Well done Gala. The second Gala try seemed a little more creative but it still culminated in the Gala scrum half support play.
One cannot emphasis too much the value of support play. England did it in abundance and beat the All Blacks. Moseley did it in the last move of the Bristol game and beat Bristol. Moseley did it at Twickenham and beat Leeds. Moseley support consistently well in defence but in attack it is more often the option rather than the rule.
The second Gala try should have been snuffed out in one or both of two forms.
Number one. Tackle the player. If memory serves me right the second Gala try started off with the Gala ( full back ) rounding, not through, at least three Moseley players.
Number two. Speed. When the Gala scrum half got the scoring pass there was not a Moseley back in sight - and we are supposed to have some speedy backs.
When I were a lad watching Wakefield Trinity, Berwyne Jones, a three As' ( Amateur Athletic Association ) sprint champion, turned out for Wakefield as professional rugby league player, playing on the wing. He could not stop the proverbial "pig in an entry" but what he could do - and he was smaller than me - was sprint. By golly could he shift. No-one, but no-one outran him. Anyone, even a big fat prop could get past him, no problem, but they couldn't outrun him. But what even more important and impressive about Berwyne Jones was his acceleration form either a standing start or on the move.
Norton for Moseley could shift. Underwood for England could shift. But Berwyne Jones was unique. Van Vollenhoven, a South African international winger, playing for St Helens could shift - and he could beat any number of good defenders on the way to the line and still score.
One day in a game against St Helens, at Wakefield, Van Vollenhoven got round Jones IN THE WAKEFIELD 25 YARD AREA and left him - Jones - facing the wrong way. The Wakefield full back, Gerry Round, an England International - Wakefield had 7 internationals playing in their side, including the famous Neil Fox - was way out of position. There was not a soul twix Van Vollenhoven and a certain try.
We are looking at 25 YARDS here yet Berwyne Jones turned round and caught Van Vollenhoven from behind before he even got anywhere near the 10 yard line. I have never, ever seen such acceleration from a sprinter in all my life. Yet for all his speed speed and acceleration Berwyne Jones could not make it as a rugby player.
But as well as individual merits a rugby player, more so these days, needs to be able to offer support play. Individual skills certainly can create tries but in my view, and it is my view, support play is a far greater contributing factor to scoring tries than skill and in my view, once again, it is a major, major weakness in the Moseley style of attacking play.
Never mind the stand and the ground and the grub and the club house and Uncle Tom Cobbly and what have you - they are all red herrings. And money shouldn't come into it either. The Mosley of yore were fully amateur and played for the club and a few expenses. Just ask Warro, Bealy and Nutty. Mike Teague came to Moseley from Gloucester on a small fortune but he was nothing the Mike Teague of International fame. Money didn't turn him onto a better player, far from it. He didn't stay long.
Moseley, undoubtedly, do have the players - one or two even superb players - to produce the results. Sadly, all too often they do not play enough game time as a team. They are not "streetwise", to coin a phrase. They are not able to "manage the game" at certain parts, particularly the first half. When they do get their act together they can take on anybody and they are often the stronger team in the later periods of the game - unfortunately, they often leave it too late to recover that which they lost and that is sad, very sad.
I can't make Saturday for the return game against Gala but I would like to hope that Moseley will get their act together, knock seven cans of proverbial out of gale and earn 5 points to none in the process. Come on Moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooose.
Post by countrybumpkin on Dec 13, 2012 23:14:28 GMT
If memory serves, you best look at the footage again, Phil. You say that 'When the Gala scrum half got the scoring pass there was not a Moseley back in sight - and we are supposed to have some speedy backs', when in fact there was a spectacularly speedy cover tackle from the blind-side winger, Billy Robinson, which necessitated the off-load to the scrum-half for this particular score. However, I agree that there did seem to be a conspicuous lack of cover thereafter.
Agree Bumpkin not only did Robinson make the tackle but Hunt was also in close proximity. Always a danger in making too many conclusions to what was in effect after adverts about 6 minutes of highlights from an 80 minute game.
For what its worth I thought both the Gala scores were good tries exhibiting a fair deal of flair and skill. First one was a blind side deliberately created by a scrummage wheel which took our back row completely out of the equation and great line and hands by the 8 to take out the last defender. All clearly planned and well executed. However stop the wheel and you stop the try.
To Phils other point about having forwards defending in the midfield afraid it is part of the modern game I'm afraid. Sides employ deliberate tactics to create such opportunities and then attack them. Great switch of play by the 10 to identify the mismatch. Real issue is why the tackles were missed in the first place. Admittedly more difficult for a front rower to tackle a back but from what was limited footage one or two of the front five look shall we say a bit off the pace.
Also in the 6 mins of highlights saw Gala make us pay from 3 careless turnover balls. We're clearly still not cherishing the ball enough.
Have to agree with Phils comments on support play though in attack. Throughout this season there have been many half breaks that have fizzled out due to lack of options for the ball carrier.
Yup support play in attack is crucial for any team. Mose would most definetly gain more points if we did a little more of this - either from tries or encouraging the opposition into penalty infringments. Take the game to them. Although I guess we are so busy in defence that its tricky for the lads to pick themselves up when we have an attacking option - but this is what they must do! Really looking forwards to tomorrow's game. Wished it was a league game, don't want to risk any injuries tomorrow for a cup game.
We look unorganized, uninterested and a shambles quite frankly in the first half, I doubt on that half performance we would survive in the division below. Let's hope for some gusto on the next 40 minutes.
From what I saw they didn't threaten much but capitalised well on the few scoring opportunities they created. Have to say though their defence was admirable all game but our lack of a front line kicker meant they got away with a lot of infringements without the concession of points. We had half a dozen kickable pens in the first half and took none of them.
Different game though with the changes from the bench in the last 20. Good tactical kicking meant we played the game deep in their half and the scoreboard began to tick over as the pressure took its toll. Left it very late though and personally I'd rather we'd made the changes earlier. I'm not a fan of fiedling under strength teams in the Cup. We needed the win to build a bit of confidence but a more emphatic one would have done more for us I think.
