Hall rejoins Moseley still driven by a passion for success

New signing Andy Hall insists he has not returned to Moseley to see out the remainder of his career in the Championship Rest Home for Tired and Retired Professionals. The veteran second row undoubtedly brings with him more scar tissue and miles on the clock than those with which he left the club in 2001 but he also carries with him eight seasons of experience gained playing in and against

some of the most revered boiler-houses in the continent.

And he maintains he has also retained the coltish enthusiasm and ambition that marked him as an outstanding prospect when he broke into the Red and Black side during the latter years at The Reddings.

After 65 games for the Mose first team the upward trajectory of the athletic lock could be kept under key no longer and he departed his native Birmingham to enjoy full-time rugby with Glasgow.

Four years in Scotland, which also brought him an international cap and several appearances for the A side, ended when he moved to Newport Gwent-Dragons in 2005.

Since then he became one of the few players to appear in 100 Celtic league matches, only for limits on non-Welsh numbers to bring his time at Rodney Parade to an end earlier this summer.

That has resulted in a return to his spiritual home and the club that set him on his way in senior rugby but not for one minute is the old head expecting to go gently into the oval ball night.

“I am not a 30-year-old coming back to wind down the last couple of years,” Hall said. “I have a good few years left in me and there’s a lot I still want to achieve.

“I am at Moseley to kick on again. I have played for Scotland and want to do that again. If I find I am playing well then be sure that Andy Robinson is going to find himself bombarded with tapes of me. And if I get wind that I am playing well enough but not at high enough level that is something I will have to work out at the time.”

Hall cites the case of team-mate Terry Sigley as proof of the fact a descent into what was National One does not necessarily signal a terminal decline.

The tighthead left Gloucester to play at Billesley Common only to do so well he earned himself another crack at the Premiership with Sale.

Had the Sharks not altered their position following the recruitment of Mathew Tait, it is not difficult to envisage Sigley still lining up alongside the likes of Andrew Sheridan.

And Hall hopes to follow the same pattern, particularly in light of the way things ended in Wales.

“It’s never nice to be told you are not going to be required, no matter what the reason is.

“I tried to take it as positively as I can. Exeter came along early on and I had talks with London Irish but we couldn’t get a suitable fit.

Meanwhile head coach Ian Smith was waiting in the wings.

“I spoke to Smithy a couple of times and he was fully aware I am still very driven and there are things I still want to achieve.

“But the market-place is so saturated with teams cutting squads there were not so many chances out there.

“There would be no other First Division club that I would want to go to – even if it was a full time one like Exeter or Cornish Pirates. I have always said that if I had to drop into National One it would be for Moseley and no-one else.”

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