Moseley 23-19 Jersey

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Moseley 23-19 Jersey

Tries : Charlie Hayter, Stefan Thorp & Ben Pienaar
Conversions : Glyn Hughes (1)
Penalties : Glyn Hughes (2)

[markd]

Well, a win is a win but decision-making and game management meant that this was much closer than it ought to have been. Why did we not keep the ball in hand in the second half? Kicked it away far too often for my liking and more often than not did not gain territory. Credit to Jersey who were well worth their bonus point.

Come on Mose!

[gary]

Perfect summary markd.

We eased off a bit mentally in the second half and allowed them back in to the game. If we had kept our tempo up I thought we could have scored another try, got our bonus point and denied them theirs.

Nevertheless the win was badly needed so I guess we should be pleased and not too critical!

[Gerald the Fish]

I said all along we would beat Jersey. Admittedly it was a bit too close for comfort, but Mose are on the up now I can feel it. Our line out today has improved again. I think we only lost one in the entire game. At the start of the season we were only winning one in the entire game. This was an important game and the lads will have known that before the kick off, so, psychologically they may have put themselves under a bit of pressure which would perhaps explain the shaky start. But all in all I think we did well today and until their first try I thought it would be unlikely that they would score a try at all. Our defence seem to be able to cope quite well until that point. Still It wouldn't be Moseley if we won by 30 points now would it. It's all character building. Come On Mose, we've turned a corner and let's push on with a few wins on the bounce.

[studleyken]

I'll take the win, as nail biting as it may have been. I'm sure the "16th man" made a difference. We were great today. Best I've heard us for while. Lets keep it up at every game.
Come on you Mooooose and Mose fans.

[welshexile1963]

Really enjoyed the game, the team won the vast majority of the line outs which was nice and gave 100% again. The kicking needs sorting out but I am chuffed with a win well done boys.

[rickroyce]

The scrum was the only area of real concern - four penalties was it that they got by holding the ball in til we collapsed? And their kicker was pretty good too! Meant that we were in danger all the time that they were in our half.

I turned to my neighbour at 23 : 9 and said "they haven't looked like scoring a try and they can't rely on penalties now so I guess we're home and dry!" Famous last words!

Can't see Jersey going down myself as their tourist industry benefits so much from fans going over there to follow their teams in the closed season. I think they'll just keep pushing money in to ensure they don't.

Can't say that I enjoy this sort of crucial match (apart from about five minutes as above!) - far too worrying when so much is at stake, however I was delighted by such an improved performance.

[kingsheathlad]

When Hicks came on and he is our tallest player why do we throw to the back with him standing at two.
I know the pitch was heavy but the ir backs made more ground than ours and looked quicker.
Our kick offs were predicable.
Sorry to be negative.
On a positive we have moved up on place so let's hope we keep going up.
I reckon we need three more wins to be safe,but Jersey will get more wins at home so may be we wins against Doncaster and London Scottish and pick up an away win at Plymouth or Rothrtham

[willco]

A very welcome 4 points against a gutsy Jersey side who i hope stay in the division. Missed Ollie's reliable boot for the extra points and made all their backs look as hard to tackle as Shane Williams on a good day for a spell in the second half. Usual total commitment from Ben Pons for 60 minutes. Keep it going Mose!

[Steve@Mose]

Birmingham Post match report.

[stevep]

A huge number of positives yesterday. Hayter's try was a beauty, the driving maul made substantial ground (and got them a yellow card), and the commitment and tackling were immense. Pons was outstanding.
We did let Jersey back in it by sitting back, and with some poor kicking out of hand. Their one try came directly from a poor kick to the Jersey 14 who set up a well-worked counter. But it's good to be looking at what needs tweaking from the standpoint of four points gained! Well played, Mose! :-)

[observer]

Jersey's website report www.jrfc.je/match-reports/20122013-season/moseley-(a)-5113.aspx

[robheap]

I agree with most points made, we seemed to switch off at 23-9 instead of going for the bonus point. I was amazed to see that the Jersey coach reckons they're a better side than us, dunno how after we've beaten twice he can make that assertion.
A good win though, more please, Plymouth away on 26th could be a real crunch game, think I will have to head South west for that one.

[John]

Great win on Saturday. Enjoyed getting back to the club after the christmas break. Agree with the post above, Plymouth is one we really must target. (although every game should be a target, get all possible points - this league proves all the time that any team is capable of a win at any time, could be a few more shocks to come in the second half).

[Richie B]

:)Congratulations to the team for the win on Saturday it was very welcome. Also the best atmosphere I’ve experienced at BC in a long time which really added to the occasion.

Admittedly I have been rather critical of our performances in the set piece over the season but the difference in the lineout this week was staggering. Think we lost only the one and also stole one of theirs! Difference this makes in terms of being able to maintain pressure was plain to see resulting in the second and third tries. I’d go as far to say that the improvement in the lineout was the difference between an important win and a loss.

Scrummage was still serviceable although I think Jersey shaded it overall in that area. Good job well done overall.

What was quite concerning was the pressure that Jersey were able to apply to our kickers throughout the game. We were charged down on four occasions, one of which directly lead to a try, and we were also hurried into the kick which lead to the counter attacking opportunity which produced their other try. Realising this I would have hoped that the team would have tried to take up “blocking” positions to provide a degree of protection like most sides do, yet rather naively they didn’t. Hence Jersey defenders were able to take straight clear running lines at our kickers. Hopefully something they will work on for next week.

Another thing that surprised me was some of the comments made concerning goal kicking. Firstly unlike Brian Dick I thought the Jersey kicker had a rather poor day from the tee only converting 3 from 7 and therefore would not classify his performance as that of an “above average kicker”.

Secondly I don’t think any player deserves to start just for their kicking ability. At Nottingham we were badly exposed down the left flank on a number of occasions with players playing out of position and it cost us the game. Fully acknowledge that Ollie on his day is a very good kicker, but it’s not always been the case this season (Bristol and Nottingham immediately come to mind). I’m a great believer in playing the best players in their rightful positions. Having a recognised 13 on the park was a real improvement on Saturday.

Good luck to the team on Friday. Will be interested to see what team Kevin Maggs selects. I’d prefer to see a first XV selected and then some rotation for what would then hopefully be a dead rubber in Wales. Wouldn’t be good for confidence to go down heavily to a resurgent Scots side at home and then have them come back to ours for the League game full of confidence.

[Richie B]

One mans classic break is another mans missed tackle I suppose! Brief highlights from Saturdays game and some bleating from a "not my fault coach!". Crystal clear where he thinks the blame lies and certainly not with him!

www.channelonline.tv/channelonline_sportnews/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=503184

[Steve@Mose]

Birmingham Mail:

Moseley break home hoodoo

Jersey are learning a tough lesson, says Kevin Maggs

[martinwatson aka Camera Shake]

Slightly longer match highlights from the Jersey game

[countrybumpkin]

Interesting to note from this video footage that Jersey's first try should not have been awarded. Indeed, the Jersey winger (number 22) is quite clearly forced into touch by the Moseley full-back's excellent cover tackle before he delivers the scoring pass. This appears at 14.39 on these highlights and sadly takes place right underneath the linesman's nose... and, even more sadly still, on such margins of error bonus points are won and lost!
Never mind. Hopefully we'll bottle the resultant frustration and smash the Scottish on Friday. Come on Mose!

[CJB1]

I liked it when we went 23-9 up.

I liked it less when we nearly threw it away.

A full 80 minutes of concentration on Friday, please everyone.

[grooveavenue]

Great Highlights but no pix of me in front of club house.. why?

Yes I thought the first Jersey try run was in touch too and I went over it too but the touch didn't even seem to hesitate or focus on player/ ball/ touch issue!

I thought Jersey really played a lot of fluid front foot open play to get back. Our game became hesitant, slow and players were receiving ball on the back foot slowing down any advancement.

But who cares now. Friday night is on us and a repeat crowd performance will help.

My thoughts are too that Jan may be a turning point slightly more confidence as time goes on and players and coaches knowing each other after settling in. Famous last words but I cant live on the backfoot and want to be positive and confident for future performances.

Good luck Mooz.

AS I SAID EARLIER WE KNOW IT 7:30 KO.................BBC PRINTS ITS 7:45 KO

[philhall]

Well, the Jersey game was a win. Was I a quivering wreck at the end of the game? No! Was I excited for the win at the end of the game? No! Was I pleased with the result at the end of the game. Yes. But that was all. I was pleased Moseley won. And I was pleased at the attendance. I noticed lots of players from local clubs in the crowd.

Ok. Moseley won the game. They were the better side - marginally - and were deserved winners. BUT. Whereas in the past Moseley have been unlucky to have lost the game this time there was, without doubt an element of luck that Moseley didn't LOSE the game. And how did I arrive at that viewpoint?

Moseley were 3 tries up with plenty of time to for one more try and a four try bonus. So what do they do? They allowed Jersey two quick tries, both of which were rather fortuitous and against the run of the game.

One them, the one through the right wing, would have been a spanker but in truth, it should have been disallowed for foot in touch "en route". But what made that try a potential spanker was the fact that Jersey spotted - you've guessed it - our old friend a prop and a second row lurking out in the three-quarters. They changed the point of attack and pressed home the mismatch. The rest is now history.

The second one also had an element of fortune about it; 1st, for the kick charge down, and 2nd, the Jersey number 5 could, arguably, have been accidentally offside when he caught the charge down because I feel he was in front of the player who charged the kick down.

The Jersey side on Saturday had only 10 of the players who played against Moseley in Jersey, in September. Mosley, in turn, played 13 of the team that day. I have now watched both games and in my honest view almost all the improvements, certainly the overall improvements, came from Jersey. The Moseley pack did NOT take the expected "giant leap forward" I expected and the Moseley three-quarters did not sparkle and shine, as I also expected.

As in September Jersey were dangerous on the counter attack. They were also much better in the tight. Much, much better. Jersey had the Moseley scrum in trouble on a number of occasions - certainly twice, when they embarrassingly drove the Moseley pack back at pace - and on the Jersey put in, to boot. Moseley also drove Jersey back in the tight, equally embarrassingly on at least two occasions, but they also drove them back in the maul, to often for Jerseys liking.

Allow me to break down the three elements of the scrum. The Moseley front three were better than Jersey, but they didn't have the expected dominance because I felt Jersey had the better second row combination which gave them, Jersey, an essential anchor and a driving platform. In fairness to Moseley, and Buster Lawrence in particular, the Jersey locks were out and out locks, Buster is not. He is a back row player playing out of position. Moseley are fortunate that Buster can play a decent game in that position.

The Moseley back row were much, much better than Jersey, certainly in the loose. Pons had yet another superb game. But where I felt the back row were vulnerable was in the tight where they were often guilty on not putting their shoulder to the wheel, as it were. They were often looking above the scrum to see what the Jersey back row was up to when the Jersey shove came on and it is difficult to stop a shunt once it has gathered momentum, however insignificant. I thought that was the job of the scrum half.

Without the forward dominance the Jersey pack were able to snipe about in the loose which reduced the Moseley three-quarter options. And here I feel the style of the Moseley defence is unclear. It appears to be a drift style of defence whereas the Jersey defence was more direct. Moseley got the ball and the man far too often which snuffed out many an attack before it could become a real threat. Jersey by contrast made yards of ground - too many yards - when they had the ball in hand. In my very inexperienced view I feel that the danger with the drift defence is that it can leave gaps out wide - probably why the props, hookers and second row fill them. A problem with the direct defence is that you have to get your man first time, or else - as Hughes superbly demonstrated - someone breaks the gain line, creates an opportunity and someone like poacher Hayter took that chance. Well done.

I was disappointed that Moseley failed to earn a bonus point and, in the process allowed Jersey to get one. None-the-less, it was an entertaining game, and I felt sufficiently encouraged to rally them along a couple of times.

But there is still much work to be done. I know the line out was much, much better - until Buster was replaced - when it became a little vulnerable - but, overall there were signs of stability in key elements of the game. So, take heart Moseley. Without doubt you are a championship side, but, so are all of the other teams. Unfortunately, at the end of the season, one of the teams will not be a championship side. Let us make sure that team will not be Moseley.

Come on Moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooose.



Let me break down the scrum. I felt Moseley were marginally better with the front three than Jersey

[philhall]

By the way, I can't make Friday night due to family commitments so I will be fidgeting waiting for the result. And the last line was a mistake. It should not be there. Having to type into a 6 inch by three-quarter inch window without being able to see what I have writted or changed really does tax my creative ability and no, I don't know how to cut and paste on the message board.

Come on Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooose.

[Oddsox]

Good report Phil - as someone who is a massive follower of rugby union & Moseley season ticket holder - but never played myself apart from a few beer matches, (always footy I'm afraid) I do like to hear about the technical details to learn & understand. EG I do not understand the 'box' kick - even at International level it seems to be a kick hoping the opposition will make a mistake - but usually don't. Also, when you get a penalty close to opposition line - why do we kick to touch, rather than tapping & passing to a big brute travellling at pace with the whole team supporting him over the line.

Key things I do understand - a good place kicker; physicality; first up tackles; win own lineouts; solid scrum; attack with pace.

Thanks for listening, Cum on U Moes