Moseley overpower a stubborn Bishop's Stortford
28
Birmingham
Moseley
V
14
Bishop’s
Stortford
By Jon Meadows
Moseley wasted no time with an opening score on two minutes. Stortford had kicked off proceedings down the slope but were penalised at the first contact. The penalty kicked to touch on the visitors ten metres, the line out safely gathered the ball was worked from the right to the other side, Tuoyo Egodo breaking through to feed Aquile Smith in the left corner, Jack Jolly adding the extras from the touchline.
The game was one of contrasting styles. Moseley building pressure from the set piece, Stortford playing a more open game, kicking through the defensive line to set up several foot races. It was from one of these probing kicks that ended with the ball bobbling around in Moseley’s in goal area, Chris Smith making first contact and Michael Cooke’s successful kick bringing the scores level on 10 minutes.
The visitors would try the same tactic again but with Aquile Smith turning his pace to defensive duties the danger was snuffed out. He would follow up shortly afterwards by catching and hauling down a charging Chris Smith who had intercepted a pass and had broken free.
Moseley continued to build pressure from the set piece. A line out on the left from outside the visitors 22 the ball was passed into the centre. Going through a couple of phases it came back to Aquile Smith on the left who gracefully jinked his way to the line, Jolly again successful from out wide.
15 minutes remained. With both sides making various handling errors nothing much would come by way of scoring opportunities, the half time whistle blown with the score at 14-7
Despite being a man down the second half began brightly for the visitors. Joshua Stannard would break through and was facing a scrambled defence. With support rapidly arriving a two or three man overlap was wasted with a speculative pass was lost forward. Moseley had the scrum just inside their 22 but were penalised. A very kickable opportunity was turned down in favour of finding touch. The line out was caught but the home team disrupted the drive, hacking the ball up field. Defence was turned to attack, Stortford conceding a penalty – kicked to touch on the 22. Almost a mirror image of the previous score, Moseley worked the ball infield before going back to the wing, Freddie Painter sprinting down the right hand side who passed to Dan Brough to complete the score. Jack Jolly showing his versatility with his hat trick from the right hand touchline in the 48th minute.
Stortford would continue the tactic of kicking through but Moseley had become wise, either leaving a man ‘at home’ or Aquile Smith prowling as cover. Another kickable penalty presented itself, the visitors again refusing a shot at goal in favour of lineouts. Again the defence disrupted the ball, the referee penalising a couple more times to set up repeat performances.
Moseley had broken up to halfway but it was not long before they were back in their own 22. The visitors once more refusing an opportunity at the posts with what was becoming a predictable outcome. This trend continued for a while longer, but with an increasing penalty count it was perhaps inevitable that a yellow card would come, Joe Foreman taking one for the team.
Finally, from a line out on the 22 the ball was spread infield, Daniel Powell breaking the line with Chris Smith on hand with the finishing touch, Cooke adding the extras via the inside of the upright.
With ten minutes on the clock Moseley found their mojo once more. Following up the restart they were quickly on their opponents, Morgan Adderly-Jones narrowly failing to convert an interception. Aquile Smith would show his defensive qualities once more, tracking back he did well not to concede a penalty in front, the referee giving the decision in his favour. Continuing to press, the home team were hounding their visitors who had a scum beneath their posts. Working the ball from the back their broke up to the ten metres before loosing the ball to Dan Brough who ran down the right before giving the ball to Thomas Taylor. Diving in at the corner the referee originally gave a try but after consultation with his assistant changed his mind, showing a yellow card to Jack Biard for foul play and awarded a penalty try instead.
It was the last action of the match giving Moseley the bonus point in a 28-14 victory. Player of the match: Sam McNulty
