Absolutely dire in 1st half. Probably worst half i've seen in 5 years of watching. Ben Pons lucky to stay on pitch after throwing punch. Much better when waggy and glynn came on. Superb drop goal to win, but not sure we were worthy winners, but nice to be on the winnng side for a change. Great comeback Mose i'll take any sort of win.
Post by kingsheathlad on Dec 15, 2012 18:16:00 GMT
Agree first half dire and at the second half looked to be going the same way but we started to to get some momentum and I thought Mason started to inspire the forwards.I suppose a draw would have been a fair result , but having seen games we have lost in the last five minutes home and away, I am happy to take the win which should put us through and at least win some prize money to help the cause.
Agreed dire for 60mins but followed by 20mins of grit and determination. As one fan said to me though we got the win by reverting to the style coached by Smithy instead of the running game supposedly favoured by Maggsy. Which is best? Would rather see somethging more open. Our pack is not up to taking on the big boys. If we play like this next week against Notts we will be well and truely mauled. We really do need Mike Powell back to instill some dicipline and stop them getting frustrated and trying TOO hard to make things happen when things are not going their way. Or even Shilton coming on. Someone with a lot more experience. It got much better when Glyn, Waggy and Robinson came on. Hope Adam is OK. He looked a bit the worse for wear. Still it was at least good to see a win at home, at last. Come on you Moooose.
Post by Gerald the Fish on Dec 15, 2012 20:07:38 GMT
I spoke to Adam after the game. He's ok he had a bang on the head in the last few seconds. Anyway I agree with comments here, terrible first half with 13 nil down but what character to come back AGAIN and score 16 in the second. I think Ken is right that Mose sometimes may try too hard and end up forcing the game. But still a win is a win, I don't care how we get them, I just wish we wouldn't make it so had for ourselves.
Well, a win. I didn't see the game because I was working but from the few reports so far not a pretty sight. I really am totally perplexed by Moseley the style of play these days. Terminology used by the coaches to describe performances:-"There were some positives", We'll learn from our mistakes", "We can only get better", to coin just three seem somewhat hollow and, of those three, the only one which could possibly hold some merit was the first one - "There were some positives".
To me the consistent positive would appear to be endeavour. Seemingly, week in week out honest endeavour and a never say die attitude prevails which is a positive because that is new to the team this season.
"We'll learn from our mistakes" crops up week after week and season after season. But just what ARE Moseley learning from their mistakes? I don't know because the same mistakes, poor game management, loss of shape, slow starting - except for the Aberavon and Lianelli games - ball lost in contact and stupid, stupid totally schoolboy penalties which create endless problems appear week in week out.
"We can only get better" is another absolutely correct assessment. There is more chance of Moseley getting better simply because there would seem to be precious little room left to get much worse. It may sound defeatist and unfair but with the gathering of skilled players Moseley have, with the high profile former international players coaching them, with a good pitch to play on and a loyal supporter base behind them they should only get better. But they do not and that is the conundrum.
Something is wrong. Something is seriously wrong and I just do not know what it is. I only hope that Moseley find out and put it right well before the season is beyond redemption.
Come on Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooose.
I bow to the superior analytic skills of those who have commented above, but it did seem to me that luck - and the referee played an even bigger role than usual.
To me, we seemed to do most of the attacking in the first half with them breaking out from their own line which is very disheartening if you let it get to you. Yes, there were very poor scrums and lineouts and terrible handling errors all over the place but they were mixed with some very good passing and tackling on occasions. Our penalty kick was only inches wide of the post and all our other penalties seemed to come in difficult areas in the centre of the field whilst theirs appeared to be in much more useful places.
Even the yellow cards seemed to go that way - theirs for backs and ours for forwards.
In the second half I wondered how many penalties for a dropped scrum it takes before a penalty try ensues (remember our four against Coventry back along!), and their scrum half seemed able to take quick tapped penalties while ours appeared to score something like three tries that way, being called back by the ref each time.
To me, our lads seemed to become very frustrated indeed by the ref's decisions - or lack of them - and I personally would give them credit for keeping their cool (relatively!) and their heads up.
I wish we would make more use of our winger from Northampton when we’ve got him. To me he is dynamite if he gets a little bit of space.
Maybe our luck will balance out in the next game or two when it is really very important indeed, but if we make as many blunders at the last minute or indeed elsewhere as we did yesterday, I guess we'll pay heavily for it.
P.S. I'm never sure about announcers shouting encouragement to their own team over the tannoy, particularly when I'm away from home and personally I'm less inclined to cheer when told to do so - but maybe that's just me!
Well, I cant argue with a lot of what you say Phil ......there is something wrong but i think the key point is what you say about the honesty and guts of these guys. Yesterday`s first half was just about the worst ive seen in a very long time but as i say im going to hone in on a very positive aspect of the boys at the moment. These guys have so much guts and honesty that im sure they will pull this around. Talking to a few of them after the game, they know they are nieve at times and that they make silly mistakes to allow the opposition scoring opportunities. They are as frustrated as we are about it and one or two admitted that they have forgotten a little about how to win and that they are trying a bit too hard. BUT....they will get it right im convinced of that....they are too good players not to. It may sound stupid but i honestly think we just need a bit of luck..something to turn and go our way for a change and we will turn the corner. Once we get a bit of momentum going we will be fine! On a slightly different point can i just thank the club for the beautiful mulled wine yesterday ...it was lovely...and...the mince pies.....good effort and really appreciated....Thanks!! Bring on Notts...and lets have a good pre christmas eve day out...
Post by welshexile1963 on Dec 16, 2012 13:14:09 GMT
We were lucky in my opinion, are Gala an amateur side? I am glad we won and the team gave their all I have no doubt but handling errors, penalties, our lineout, our scrum, kicking & passing were awful (just about everything then). The ball never seems to get out to our wings, why? The money from this competition will be handy I am sure but we need to up our game in the league or else we will be playing in the National League 1 next season, mind you I would still turn up and support even there but would prefer to be mid table in the Championship as I know would all the players, officials & supporters.
I agree with most of the comments above. Moseley didn't play until the last twenty minutes and a very fussy referee didn't help the flow of Moseley's game. Gala played well and their supporters made themselves heard throughout the game. Why do our fans only start to make any noise at the end of the game? We need to get behind our players and give them the support that they need. Talking to our players after the game they said that the noise from our fans really gives them a boost. So maybe we all need to shout a bit louder and definitely earlier in the match and maybe we won't have to fight back from 13 points down every week!
Thanks for the day out yesterday folks, think perhaps the draw would have been a fairer result! Can't quite get my head around the number of times our amateur status has been questioned on your board in the last couple of weeks. We have the opportunity of using Edinburgh and Glasgow pro players not in their HC squads as do the other Scottish teams. Unlike them however our coach has taken the view (correctly in almost 100% of supporters views) that it is our own players that got us here so they should be the ones to enjoy the chance of playing at a higher level (Melrose for instance used 7 fully pro players in both their last 2 outings). As a result the teams you faced last week and this are the same guys that turn out week in and week out for Gala without any pay, and holding down full time jobs/studies as a result. As with any Club at our level in Scottish rugby we do pay our coach. Hope that helps to clear any doubts. Good luck in rest of Championship, if not quite able to say B&I just yet :-), & Merry Xmas
Thanks Manic.... to be honest i think you should take the questioning of your amateur status as a huge compliment! Your boys were really well drilled and turned out yesterday...i suppose they just appear to be full time pros who do the right things on and off the field! It is a compliment believe me. I think a draw would have probably been fairer but as people have said the ref didnt help either team at times. May we wish you good luck with the rest of your season and i will say the B and I cup!! and have a great christmas !!!
Like most comments above i thought our performance for the first 60 minutes was as bad as i have seen down here for quite sometime and looking back on how i felt during those 60 minutes I really can't believe we have the win in our pocket. The grit and determination we showed in the final 20 minutes was excellent. I know a lot of you were disappointed with the Rotherham result, but I thought we played with the same intensity in the last 20 of the gala game as we did in the roth game. The ref yesterday had a shocker. Wag, olly robinson and glynn hughes really pulled the team through yesterday. Hunt too got on with it.
Post by welshexile1963 on Dec 16, 2012 19:24:42 GMT
I also have to say that the questioning of their amateur status is a mssive compliment, fair play to the club your players do you proud. And I agree the ref was shocking!!! He loved his whistle must be an early Xmas present!
Hi Manic. I'll say well played Gala, and I don't douby what you say about your amateus status one bit. Just to be clear though, our own players are not full-time either, they are either employed as rugby coaches and go around our local schools spreading the word, or are genuine part-timers with "proper" jobs. They train as a team three times a week. It's a big difference from some of the other teams in our league, cf Newcastle, Leeds and even London Scottish, or so I hear! We can sometime call on a limited number of Academy players from Northampton (Danny Herriot is one such), but they don't train with us all the time, so while you gain a full-time player who trains to that regime, they're not always fully integrated into the way the team plays.
We also had one or two more junior players of our own in the squad this last couple of weeks, partly for injury cover and partly to blood them away from the league.
Still, it's been good to meet new friends, and perhaps we'll see you again in the cup in future years.
Read some suggestions of something “wrong” at Moseley but to me I’d say it all boils down to recruitment and the balance of the squad.
We are all well aware that for obvious reasons we don’t have anywhere near the strength in depth as most other sides in the division. Whilst we have a first XV that can compete with most Championship sides our injury list is well documented, and has cruelly exposed our lack of quality cover. We seem pretty well blessed in some positions in the back division (with the obvious exception of Centre and Scrum Half) if not too many 10's! However it’s in the forwards where we are threadbare specifically at prop and lock. With respect to the lads who have come across from Saints (well as though they have done) to be brutally honest those positions aren’t the types of position you want to be filling with a host of DR players in the Championship. Think in one game all the front 5 bar Adam Caves were 21 or under. These lads are only available occasionally and therefore cannot be drilled with the other forwards in the set piece as a unit. No surprise that the set piece has proven such an issue this season.
Makes you wonder whether recruitment suffered from lack of a forwards coach. Maggs obviously recruited pretty well from what he knew but Dave Hilton coming onboard late has had to make do with what he found in place.
Obviously if you cannot get your fair share of quality ball you will struggle to win games. When wins are few and far between confidence naturally ebbs away and pressure builds and hence mistakes are made.
Don’t suppose there is much money available to recruit now or that many good options out of contract so we’ll just have to hope for better fortune on the injury front second half of the season.
