Chris Bertram on a key home fixture
Fortress Billesley is still a work in progress, but the foundations are looking sound. A committed and ultimately dominant performance last Saturday saw Birmingham Moseley rebuff the challenge of a Rams side looking to improve their own start to the season. A much improved defence meant that Rams found it hard to break through the line, being forced into errors that allowed Moseley to clear upfield and go on the attack themselves. The hard-working forwards constantly achieved momentum, and the backs looked lively all afternoon. There will be a great sense of satisfaction at a job well done. For the first time at home Moseley conceded neither a losing bonus nor a try bonus point, while themselves earning a fourth try bonus from five games. Repeating this will be the aim going forward.
The result lifted Moseley to sixth place in the National League 1 table with 16 points, once again level with Bishop’s Stortford. The negative points difference will be a slight concern, but tighter defence will look after that in the longer term. Home form will remain key, and three wins from three at Billesley suggests that the team know this and are prepared to back themselves in front of the loyal supporters. The luck of the fixture list means that there is an immediate chance to do it again and start putting some walls up on top of the foundations of the fortress.
Aiming to topple this in Round 6 of the league campaign are old friends Rosslyn Park, emerging from their home on the South Circular Road. They have had what might best be described as a mixed start to the season, starting with a 17-61 defeat at home to current league leaders Plymouth Albion, though in the light of Albion’s subsequent results, perhaps this was not so surprising. They immediately responded with 61 points of their own, winning at Stortford, but then lost at home to Camborne and away at Rams. Last week they finally managed a home win, seeing off Sheffield 40-24. They have earned try bonus points from their last four matches, and together with a losing bonus at Rams have 13 points and are in eighth place.
In the overall head-to-head figures, Park lead Moseley by 14 wins to 8, and last season won both fixtures, 47-24 at The Rock and 31-35 at Billesley. The previous season saw results go with home advantage,though the margins were very tight. Conversely, in 2023/24 both games were won by the visiting side, again with close scorelines, which have tended to be the rule for this fixture. Both teams will be aware of this, and with Park having won last weekend, and presumably being in a more confident frame of mind, we must expect a keenly-contested affair on Saturday.
Rosslyn Park have 28 tries to their credit so far, with wing Luke Mehson having scored eight of them, and also being their top points scorer with 40. Flanker Archie Hosking has four, as does centre Freddie Vaughan, in his second season since moving up from BUCS rugby. Kicking duties have been shared around, but Marcus Smith’s kid brother Luc has 15 points from the tee (plus a try)
It was mostly forwards’ day at Billesley last week, with hooker Ben Pogson and prop (and captain) Ethan Priest scoring their second tries of the season, and prop Nick Bingham and flanker Jayden Wrottesley opening their accounts. Wing Nathan Decalmer upheld the honour of the backs with his second, and in the absence of Harry Read, Jack Condliffe landed two conversions and Zac Jones three. Harry still remains leading scorer with 41 points, however.
Billesley hosts another double header this Saturday, though this time Birmingham Moseley are the opening act to Moseley Oak, who notched up another impressive victory in Regional 1 Midlands. The home following will be increasingly optimistic after the good start on home turf. A bright but cool day is forecast, so the obvious way to warm up is to be at Billesley to urge the team on to victory with the passionate cry:
“Come on Moseley”
