Moseley v London Welsh - B&I Cup Preview

By Mark W-J
November 18 2009

You wait 11 years for a Friday night fixture, and then three come along at once! This week London Welsh return to the Midlands for the opening round of the inaugural British & Irish Cup. The competition, featuring all 12 Championship clubs, three Irish provinces, six Welsh clubs and three Scottish teams, will run during International windows with semi-finals and a final to follow in April/ May.

The expanded cup, which guarantees at least five fixtures per club, is undoubtedly intended to rebuff criticism from the clubs regarding the loss of four league matches - and therefore revenue - which has resulted from the streamlining of the second tier of English rugby. There is an argument that the introduction of cross-border competition will firstly rekindle old rivalries, particularly between the Welsh clubs and the English teams who enjoyed regular meetings in a sepia-tinted era, and secondly bring together teams who have never crossed paths in over 100 years of history.

Unfortunately, the prevalence of English clubs in the draw, combined with the adoption of such extensive league play-offs, means that there is also a distinct possibility that familiarity may breed contempt. Based upon current league positions, London Welsh and Moseley would be drawn together in the pool stage of the promotion play-offs, along with Bristol and Nottingham, and as a result we would be playing each other at least five times this season – three times at Billesley Common, twice at ODP, and potentially again at Twickenham in the promotion Grand Final.

Moseley currently sit in 7^th place in the Championship, one place behind London Welsh, with five wins and six defeats; they’ve also picked-up three try-bonus points and a single loss-bonus, at home to London Welsh last month. Their defence is the second worst in the league – only Bees have let-in more than their 38 tries and 309 points, but 20 of those tries were conceded in the opening three games, against Exeter, Pirates and Nottingham. Welsh, on the other hand, now have the third best defence– we were neck-and-neck with Exeter and Bedford having seen our line crossed only 16 times before last weekend’s debacle, and have now conceded a total of 196 points. However, Mose have scored marginally more points than the Exiles – each side has registered 26 tries and 25 penalties, but the Midlanders have converted 19 to our 14, with a Gordon Ross drop-goal bringing the overall scores to 243-236.

Top try-scorer for Moseley is winger Nathan Bressington with six, and while fly-half Tristan Roberts is top-scorer with 80 points, the goal-kicking has also been shared by England Sevens star Rob Thirlby and South African fly-half/ centre Andy Borgen – all three have success rates of over 70%. Wales scrum-half, Andy Williams, formerly of Bath, Ospreys and the Dragons, returned from the calf injury sustained in our last meeting for last Friday’s 23-7 defeat at Bedford.

When the Championship was first proposed two years ago, one of the key selling-points, from the RFU’s perspective, was that the slimming-down to 12 teams meant that each club would be ‘twinned’ with a Premiership side. The second-tier clubs would thereby act as feeder clubs, in much the same way as regional rugby supposedly works alongside the club game in the Magners League, and promising young English players, struggling to get meaningful game-time in the Premiership’s ‘A’ League, would be dual-registered with their Championship ‘twin’. This is just one of the many promises which the powers-that-be have failed to deliver, but Moseley are one of the few clubs who have created a mutually beneficial dual-registration scheme with their old foes at Gloucester.

Yet Mose have endured a barrage of criticism from those supporters of rival clubs who feel that, by ‘borrowing’ young English talent and giving them valuable experience, Moseley are somehow cheating their Championship rivals. Many people suggested that their National Trophy success last season was tainted; that they’d packed the team with ‘ringers’. Yet while Welsh and Bees – and, if the rumours are true, as many as half a dozen others - have faced financial ruin after spending beyond their means, Moseley have cut their cloth and taken full advantage of the opportunities available to them. Of course, the servant club is reliant upon the master calling the shots and withdrawing players at a moment’s notice, but by building and nurturing the relationship Moseley have made a success of the scheme at little or no cost – financial or otherwise - to themselves. It would seem that you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t…

This weekend – despite being the meeting of two old friends – is a step into the unknown. It’s impossible to tell the extent to which any of the 24 teams have prioritised the cup, and while - on paper at least - the Championship teams would seem to have the advantage of being a) settled, and b) predominantly professional, it’s difficult to guess how many fringe-players from the Magners League will be available to the Welsh, Scottish & Irish teams taking part. Our current run of patchy form began with a narrow – some might say fortunate – win at Billesley Common four weeks ago: it would nice to think that this Friday that is where our season gets back on track.

Tom Brown held just short of the try line

Tom Brown is held up just short of the try line in our cup game against Moseley last season

Moseley v London Welsh - B&I Cup Preview

Posted by: The Dragons\\\' Den (IP Logged)

Date: 18/11/2009 09:56

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