72

Birmingham
Moseley

V

14

Cambridge

Attendance:        1,011                 Referee: Jamie Leahy

Teams

The game as it happened

Match Report

By Paul Smith – Birmingham Mail

Birmingham Moseley annihilate Cambridge with sparkling 11-try performance

Birmingham Moseley annihilated Cambridge by 72-14 thanks to 11 tries and a sparkling display of attacking rugby.

Wingers Mark Harrison and Drew Cheshire grabbed two apiece, as did No.8 Chris Brightwell, while the remaining five tries were shared around.

Cambridge responded with two consolation efforts in the second half, but were chasing shadows for much of an afternoon when the hosts had the try bonus in the bank within 30 minutes.

The match, which was every bit as one-sided as the scoreline suggests, provided a clear illustration of the huge gap between the top six in National One and the rest.

The visitors were outgunned in the scrum, and significantly slower in thought and deed than a Moseley side which bounced back superbly from last week’s chastening reverse at Ampthill .

Forwards coach Louis Deacon pronounced himself happy with what he saw for the first time this season.

“It was a much better performance all round,” he said. “We needed a reaction after last week, which wasn’t good enough, and when we applied ourselves we showed what we can do today.

“It’s the first good performance we’ve put in this season, and we mustn’t get ahead of ourselves now and think we’re world beaters. We now need to back that up next week and be consistent in everything we do.

“Sometimes when you score at will it can turn into sevens, and get too open. We kept sending messages on to keep it simple and not go away from the things that were working, which are things we’ve been saying all season, but today we managed to put it together.”

Cheshire’s classic in-out winger’s finish, converted by debutant fly half James Williams, opened the hosts’ account, but the floodgates really opened when Cambridge centre Ollie Petrides was yellow-carded for a dangerous tackle.

Williams added a penalty during the power-play period, and also converted tries from Harrison, then No.8 Brightwell, who was left with an easy run-in following some neat interplay between the back three.

Moseley’s former England Sevens star then claimed his second score in quick succession, which also delivered the try bonus point, at the back of a driving lineout.

Cheshire’s second, created by full back Mike Penn’s break, extended the hosts’ half time advantage to 34 unanswered points, and they soon extended this after the break.

The outstanding Greg King and Harrison put Grove in the corner, then Harrison grabbed his second following Greg Charlton’s superb offload.

Hard-working prop Dave Langley finally put Cambridge on the board, with a try converted by Jack Green, but their respite was only temporary since Aaron Crofts went behind the posts following Grove’s switch of direction.

Replacement Elliot Bale converted, and he soon also upgraded scores from man-of-the-match King, who sold three dummies and raced 65 metres, and replacement winger Ed Sheldon.

The visitors banked a second converted try late on through winger Matt Hema. However, they promptly lost replacement prop Ben Ibrahim to the sinbin for repeated scrum infringements, then shipped an eleventh try on the final whistle to home hooker Adam Caves.