The Big Match Preview – Rotherham Titans v Birmingham Moseley

Chris Bertram on the toughest battle ahead

It was a brave performance on the Billesley turf, and Birmingham Moseley fully deserved the bonus point that Tommy Taylor’s final-kick penalty earned them.  Indeed, for large parts of the contest, they matched second-placed Plymouth Albion in all parts of the game.  It was Albion’s more clinical finishing that won them the match, though another yellow card, during which Albion crossed for a try, did not help.

It was not enough to hold on to tenth place in the league, as Leeds jumped ahead with victory over Leicester Lions, but it remains very tight with four clubs covered by just a three point margin.  That game we still have in hand over some of our near rivals could still come in useful.  Plus our final sequence of games involves matches against most of those rivals.  Our fate is very much in our own hands, and the coaches and teams will be planning their approach to the final phase of the season with this in mind.

However, this will all have to wait until Moseley have paid a visit to Clifton Lane to take on table-toppers Rotherham Titans.  Titans have been top of the league for some weeks now, though as of today only a single point ahead of Plymouth Albion, with both clubs having won 17 matches.  They are unbeaten this year, but lost rather surprisingly 19–18 to Leeds just before Christmas.  This was a shock to many, as they have made a habit of ruthlessly crushing sides from the lower reaches of the table, including a  47–12 beating of Dings Crusaders, a 54–0 drubbing of Clifton and73–24 humiliation of Leicester Lions.  Only the aforementioned Leeds, Plymouth Albion and a Dings team seemingly reinforced by DR players from Bristol have managed to put an L in their results sequence. 

Rotherham came to Billesley in early November and travelled home 33-15 victors.  In the overall series of matches between the sides they lead by 30-13, but there have been some very close results, including last season’s match at Clifton Lane which Titans edged 28–27.  They also won close contests in January 2020 (33–20) and January 2019 (21–20), but Moseley took the October 2019 honours with a 15–11 victory.  Moseley would certainly take a close result like that on this occasion, but will hope for better, reassured by the showing against Plymouth after the sub-par performance against Blackheath.

Rotherham have three players with more than ten tries.  Top of the pile is wing/centre Jackson Barling with 18 in what seems to be his first season of senior rugby. On 13 is Morgan Veness, a hooker who has joined from Cambridge this season, and with 11 is  back three player Isaac Shaw, who like Barling is in his debut season.  Runaway top scorer is centre Lloyd Hayes with  250 points.  While the kicking duties have contributed to the bulk of these, he also has eight tries so is a real dual threat.  Now something of a veteran, he joined from Doncaster in 2021.

It was hookers’ day at Billesley last Saturday as Ben Pogson and Sam McNulty each scored five-pointers.  This puts Pogson level with Ollie Stedman and Morgan Dawes on eight tries, followed by Aquile Smith and Sam Clarke with six each.  Tommy Taylor’s late penalty took him to 57 points and he remains leading scorer.

Moseley must travel to the West Riding knowing that they have nothing to lose and play accordingly.  A tentative, defensive game will probably fail given what we know about the Titans, so the approach must be to take the game to them and win whatever points we can. The MSA have booked a coach to take a posse of supporters to give the team the backing they need, and will take every opportunity to shout the passionate cry:

“Come on Moseley”