Moseley v London Welsh Preview
By Mark W-J
October 14 2010
Having returned to winning ways with a bonus-point win over Doncaster last Saturday, London Welsh travel to the West Midlands this weekend to renew acquaintance with Moseley. Since the Red & Blacks moved to Billesley Common in 2005 we've returned victorious on all five visits (including last season’s B&I Cup) although the four league games have been won by an aggregate margin of just 19 points.
Moseley have made
an inauspicious start to the 2010-11 season, returning just one win from their
opening seven fixtures, and consequently finding themselves in 11th
place, four points clear of local rivals Birmingham Solihull. The Bees won their first game of the season
last Sunday, scoring six tries in a 38-16 victory over Esher. In case anyone needed reminding, that’s the
same Esher who beat Welsh 22-19 just nine days previously, and who opened their
Championship campaign with a 29-17 win at Moseley. Our hosts did then embark on a three game
unbeaten run, a 23-16 win at Doncaster being followed by consecutive home draws
against Pirates (26-26) and Bristol (13-13), but three heavy defeats in their
last three outings – at Bedford and Nottingham, and at home to Worcester – mean
that they are still looking for their first home win of the season.
Despite the visit
of three of the division’s better-supported clubs, the crowds at Billesley have
been very disappointing – an average of only 788 fans have witnessed the four
home games, although the visiting Worcester fans were convinced that the true
attendance for their game a fortnight ago was nearly double the quoted
998. Welsh are similarly struggling at
the turnstile – the aggregate of 2,950 for the three home games to-date has
been bettered in a single afternoon at Worcester, Bristol, Bedford and
Plymouth, and the Blues are expecting a bumper crowd for the top-of-the-table
clash with Worcester on Saturday. Last
season’s average home crowd (at ODP and Esher) was just over 1,300 – our best
ever in 23 years of league rugby. The
anticipated full house of 12,000 in the Premiership presumably includes the
Tooth Fairy, Father Christmas, and over 10,000 elves.
Moseley had an
up-and-down year in 2009-10, missing out on the promotion play-offs on the
final day, despite recording a 30-25 win over Bristol – Plymouth’s 20-13 win at
Doncaster meant that both clubs made the top eight at the expense of Ian
Smith’s side. Twelve months previously, Moseley
won the National Trophy, beating Exeter in the semi-final and Leeds at
Twickenham – their progress at the expense of the top two teams in the division
being held up as a perfect example of why promotion should not be determined by
play-offs. And yet it was the looming
spectre of relegation which haunted them last spring, as defeats to all three
play-off rivals put them in a perilous position as we approached the end of
April. But despite winning only two of
their six play-off games they survived, with their dear rivals, Coventry,
taking the plunge: eight bonus points from six matches (four try bonus points
and four games lost by seven points or fewer) saw them finish second in Pool
C. In the British & Irish Cup they
fared even worse, collecting just a single point, courtesy of four second-half
tries in their opening fixture at home to the Welsh.
Despite their
apparent struggles last term, Moseley could boast the league’s second-highest
points scorer in Tristan Roberts, who amassed 272 points (just eight behind
Gareth Steenson) with a strike-rate of over 75%. Roberts moved to Doncaster over the summer,
and has scored 93 points in his seven games for the Knights so far – including
three conversions and a penalty at ODP last weekend – to again find himself
second in the charts, albeit at an improved rate of 85%. To replace the departing former Gloucester
outside-half, the Red & Blacks have re-signed Ollie Thomas from French side
Racing Club Challonais – it’s his third stint with the club, and in the first
he broke just about every points scoring record in their 127 year history. In 100 appearances over four years (94
starts) he scored 1,017 points, including 328 in 25 games in 2004-05. He moved on to the Cornish Pirates for the
2007-08 season, before returning for a single year at Billesley ahead of his
European adventure. So far this season,
however, he’s been restricted to one start (against Bedford) and a 10 minute
cameo from the bench at Nottingham last Sunday, scoring a solitary conversion
on each appearance.
It seems to have
become a regular feature of these previews to praise the try-scoring feats of
the Welsh backs, with Dom Shabbo’s brace against Doncaster last weekend proving
that the strength-in-depth in the three-quarters is the envy of our
Championship rivals. In the division as
a whole the backs have scored twice as many tries as the forwards (146 v 73),
and only one club – Rotherham – has reversed the trend (backs 5, forwards
11). But Moseley’s 16 tries have been
split equally, with the back row claiming five, although their top try scorer
is ex-Doncaster full-back Anthony Carter, with three. Fly-half Brad Davies – formerly with
Gloucester, Bees, Plymouth and Bedford - is top points scorer with 24, his rate
of 66.67% (8 from 12) placing him marginally behind Gordon Ross (24 from 35,
68.57%).
Results in recent
weeks have shown that the form book, and indeed history, count for little in
the Championship. Bedford’s victory over
Bristol a fortnight ago was their first at the Memorial Stadium since 1973,
which put our recent run of success at Billesley into some perspective. Our record this season shows three defeats –
at London Irish, Penzance and Esher – and these three games all share two
common features. The first is that
they’re the only three games this season which haven’t kicked-off at 3pm on a
Saturday, which implies that the players dislike Friday nights and Sundays as
much as (or even more than) the supporters.
The second is that these are the only three games which have been played
in the rain, perhaps giving credence to the suggestion that our squad is built
solely for Sevens-style rugby. As
Moseley have conceded more tries to the opposition wingers (12) than any other
club, and our wingers (with 11) have scored more than anyone else’s, let’s just
pray for sun on Saturday.
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Try by Shabbo & conv. 3-21
Half time
Lets hope they remmeber it is 80 minutes this week not 40!
Ben Russell try, converted. 10-35
4th try for Josh and converted. 15-54
Shabbo try, Ross conv 22-61
10 good tries but admit to some nerves when Moseley scored immediately after half time.
Naturally a fantastic atmosphere on the LWSC coach back, helped by cheese, biscuits, smoked salmon and wine. Who'd have guessed that ZZ Top was Edgar Thomas' favourite band?