Chris Bertram expects a reaction after a heavy loss

The curse of Silver Leys continues.  A bright start saw wing Nathan Decalmer cross in the corner to open the scoring, and after the first 40 minutes the scoreline was only 14-5, still close enough to envisage a comeback.  But a history of sub-par second half performances at this venue came back to bite Birmingham Moseley, and the final outcome was an eight try victory for the home side with the visitors looking downhearted at the end.  They had no answer to Stortford’s running lines, and handling errors on the occasions when they did manage to break into Stortford territory meant that attacks fizzled out.  At least the set pieces looked solid, but that was clearly not enough on this occasion.

So Moseley remain on 11 points with two wins and three try bonus points.  That is still an encouraging start to the season, and no-one will be upset if last Saturday’s result turns out to be the worst of the season.  Two home games now follow, and with them a chance to build on a good record at Billesley Common; this will be vitally important to the chances of survival in a highly competitive league with a large relegation trap-door.  Last week’s disappointment must be filed away, and a fresh start in front of friendly faces is the ideal antidote. 

Round 5 of the programme brings Rams to Billesley.  The Reading side has historically made strong starts to their league campaigns, fading only later in the season.  Not this time.  Just one win and a draw with two losses have come from their four matches to date, though four try bonus points and one losing bonus mean that they are level with Moseley on 11 points.  A heavy home loss to Sale FC was followed by a draw at Dings Crusaders, then another defeat at home by Bishop’s Stortford.  They finally managed a first win last weekend, beating Rosslyn Park, another team having a lacklustre start to their season, at home 38-34. 

Rams lead 8-4 in the series between our two sides, but in recent seasons results have gone with home advantage.  Last season Rams squeaked home 31-28 at Old Bath Road, then the return fixture saw Moseley triumph 31-24 at Billesley.  Moseley will certainly want to sustain that record, but Rams remain a potent attacking force, as their 18 tries this season demonstrates.  However, like Moseley they have a negative points difference, so Moseley will be looking for gaps in their defence to exploit.

Try scoring has been shared around Rams’ squad so far, with five players having two tries each.  This includes long-serving players such as wingers Axel Kalling-Smith and Zach Clow, familiar names to Moseley supporters.  Fly-half Ross McKay has been handling the kicking duties but has only managed eight conversions from 17 attempts.  His 21 points, which include one try, make him the leading scorer, but he will be looking to improve his kicking percentage this Saturday.

A quiet day on the scoring front for Moseley meant that only Nathan Decalmer was added to the list of try scorers.  Harry Read remains leading scorer with 41 points, while twelve different players have now scored tries for the red and blacks. 

Billesley hosts a double header this Saturday with Moseley Oak as the opening act.  After their bright start to the campaign last weekend, they will be looking to warm the home crowd up with a second win.  It will then be up to Birmingham Moseley to follow up with another big performance, but by then the supporters should be in cheerful mood and ready to urge them to victory with the passionate cry:

“Come on Moseley”