BIRMINGHAM MOSELEY 38-33 CAMBRIDGE
Cambridge bravely fell to a narrow defeat at National One stalwarts Moseley as the task ahead was laid out, coming up just short despite outscoring the hosts by five tries to four. Adjusting to the new level was always likely to be a big task given the player churn over the summer, and embracing (or not) the community tackle height laws was central to the manner of the defeat.
Moseley were two penalties up inside the first 10 minutes, both from distance – and both awarded for tackle infringements – and that cushion proved pivotal. Before the game, Head Coach Craig Newby set his stall out in promising expansive, attacking rugby – which always comes at a cost – but when Will Wood punched through the home defence 11 minutes in to touch down for a debut try, followed by a second 6 minutes later, it looked like that elusive win was on the cards. Luke Bouchier despatched both conversions with aplomb.
The hosts fought back, touching down three times in ten minutes before the half hour, and went into the sheds with a 25-14 lead, so it was vital that Cambridge kept their line intact for as long as possible after the break. To a level, that was achieved, but a 51st minute penalty stretched their lead before Ethan Thorne outpaced their defence to touch down close enough to the posts for Bouchier to have little trouble with the extras.
Just after the hour mark, though, significant damage was done – Moseley’s driving maul was deemed to have been stopped illegally, a penalty try was awarded and Jake McCay was yellow carded. Credit where it’s due though – Cambridge redoubled their efforts, and a driving maul of their own (on a difficult afternoon for the line out) saw Northampton Saints loan hooker Ben Alexander touch down, and Bouchier slot his fourth conversion of the day from out wide as the try bonus point was achieved.
All this, though, proved to no avail – Moseley added another penalty, and, despite Ben Gibson’s late score to bring up the fifth try as Cambridge threw the ball around and increased their intensity, the hosts edged it at the death.
Newby was philosophical afterwards: “We now know the level – it’s between the performance at Colchester and at Bedford. It’s disappointing on the scoreboard. We did some really good stuff, scored five tries to their four, and gave away five penalties which cost us points, all for high tackles. To put today in context – and this not an excuse, we don’t have an excuse culture in this group – we’ve had seven or eight first teamers injured in the last two weeks. The young kids, like Oscar Lewis in his first game of mens’ rugby, were oustsanding. We had few guys missing. There’s some important stuff to take away – and as Eli just said in the huddle, there’s no point in saying you’ve learned lessons, you have to put them in to practice. The challenge from today, for a young group, is not repeating the mistakes.”
Teams
Birmingham Moseley
Condliffe, Clarke, Nevitt, Creed, Decalmer, Read, Gipson; Priest, Pogson, Bingham. Smith, MAsters-Safe, Butler, Dawes, Yallop
Replacements – Read, Ma’a, Mifsud, Edwards, Painter
Cambridge
Lewis, Caven, Wood, Gibson, Thorne, Bouchier, Dawson; T Petty, Alexander, Walker, McCay, Dacres, Adams (C), Mills, Carr
Reinforcements – Shamley, J Petty, Tonga’uhia, Warner, Ritson
Referee- Callum Watson
Attendance – 630