Chris Bertram hopes for better luck at Silver Leys

It was close in the end, but disciplined defence in the closing moments ensured that Birmingham Moseley held out a Dings Crusaders side looking for a winning try.  A second home win of the season was very welcome, especially with the bonus point having been earned early in the second half.  But Dings were clearly not there just to make up the numbers, and their second half fightback had many of the home supporters concerned for the final outcome.  Ultimately, however, they went home with just bonus points to show for their efforts and are still winless so far this season.

Moseley’s two wins from three, and fifth place in the early league table, have surprised some commentators, but the team and their coaches will regard that as vindication of the new approach.  Try bonus points from all games reflect a commitment to open attacking play, and players from all parts of the team have now crossed the line.  Defensively there is still work to be done, as the points against total shows, but this can be fixed with a concentration on discipline and organisation.  We sill see the results of this in the coming weeks.

Round 4 of the programme pits the team against Bishop’s Stortford, fourth in the table and also on 11 points.  Like Moseley, they have won two and lost one game, and have three try bonus points.  They have also conceded more points than they have scored, and in very similar fashion.  An opening victory over Dings was followed by a heavy home defeat by Rosslyn Park, then last week they travelled to Rams and overcame them 34-31.  So this match-up promises to be very close, though likely with tries in numbers for both teams.

In the overall series between the sides, Stortford lead 9-6, with one draw.  Last season’s fixtures bookended the programme – in the opening game at Silver Leys Stortford prevailed 26-12, with Moseley’s discipline letting them down, while at the end Moseley edged the scoreline 35-33 in a must-win game, a last minute penalty ensuring that they were able to avoid automatic relegation and navigate the play-offs.  No such considerations apply on this occasion, of course, but Moseley will be mindful that Silver Leys has not been a happy hunting ground recently, and be aiming to upset that particular page of the form book this time.

An early leader has emerged in the try scoring numbers for Stortford – this is winger Tom Mills with five of their seventeen.  He bagged nine last season too, so will clearly be a man to watch.  Leading scorer from 2025-26, full back Jake Morris is still with the club and has crossed once.  Fly-half Daniel Cole has been looking after matters from the kicking tee and has 29 points to date.

For Moseley, new players keep adding themselves to the list of try scorers with scrum-half Noah Cowan dotting down twice, flanker Morgan Dawes racing through for his first of the season and fly-half Harry Read adding a try to the five conversions that he landed on a perfect afternoon.  He is of course leading scorer with 41 points, while eleven different players have now scored tries for the red and blacks. 

So the team will travel on Saturday anticipating a keenly-contested match with the outcome determining positions in the top half of the table.  Discipline will be crucial, defensive organisation paramount and team cohesion on the road in the face of a hostile crowd will be the defining factor. Support may be sparse, but those that make it to Silver Leys will doubtless make their presence felt and urge to team on with the passionate cry:

“Come on Moseley”