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The
sun was shining, the birds were singing, God was in his heaven…….but
Lions conspired to ruin what should have been a pleasant afternoon for their
supporters with yet another totally inept performance.
This was a basement battle that Lions could and should have won.
Unfortunately Moseley were better organised and more committed and
ran out worthy winners.
Lions
had South African Chris Fara in the centre with Jacques Steyn on the bench.
Eddie Saunders took one wing berth, with Jason Critchley returning
from injury to take the other. Necky
Mee came into the front row after missing last week’s game with flu, and
Tristan Prosser-Shaw took over at flanker with Sam Tovo being sidelined for
several weeks with knee problems.
There
was fun and games as the packs came together at the first scrum, and it was
Moseley who were awarded the free kick.
As against Welsh last week, Lions saw no possession at all in the
opening stages, and they were allowing Moseley to dominate.
So much so, that as the ball was swung wide from a concerted attack,
room was created for wing Geoff Gregory to squeeze in at the corner.
Greg McDonald pulled the touchline conversion wide.
( 5 – 0 ).
Not
the start Lions or their supporters wanted, and there was more to come as
panic ensued in the ranks when the ball was lost in midfield.
Luckily Moseley failed to capitalise on the chance.
Matt Vines cleared the danger with a lovely kick up the left
touchline, and his follow up forced a hurried clearance.
Unfortunately, Moseley stole the line and were able to clear to half
way.
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Moseley
prop Ben Buxton gave away 2 quick penalties, first for illegal use of
the boot, and then for pulling down in a line-out.
This gave Lions an attacking line-out, and this time Rob Hurrell made
no mistake with the catch. The
drive was good, and as the Moseley defence was sucked in, Phil Reed
broke blind to feed Eddie Saunders at pace, and the flying wing added
yet another try to his ever growing tally. John
Boden’s touchline conversion drifted just wide.
( 5 – 5 ).
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Phil Reed
puts Eddie away |
Rob
Hurrell took a good catch from the kick off, but Guy Manson-Bishop gave away
a totally unnecessary penalty for going over the top to give Greg McDonald
the opportunity to stroke a simple kick to restore Moseley’s lead.
( 8 – 5 ).
Tristan
Prosser-Shaw followed up another good Jon Boden kick-off to drive the
catcher backwards and earn an attacking scrum.
Unfortunately Stomper Stannard was swamped as he picked up from the
base, and Moseley were awarded the scrum.
Untidy ball at the back of the scrum saw Lions swarming through, and
they were unlucky to be penalised for driving over the top when the last
Moseley man looked to be holding the ball in the tackle.
Tristan
Prosser-Shaw was prominent again following up a towering Jon Boden “Garry
Owen”, and Moseley were again forced to clear in a hurry.
Eddie Saunders drove the ball back in, and when the ball was swung
wide, the last pass to Jason Critchley was a poor one and the chance was
lost.
Moseley
came back with a lovely midfield move involving their midfield trio of Greg
McDonald, Simon Brading and
Andrew Binns. It was desperate
stuff for Lions now. They were
penalised for coming into the maul at the side and then marched back for not
retreating 10 metres when the tap was taken quickly. Greg McDonald struck
another kick from almost the same spot as his first penalty to extend
Moseley’s lead. ( 11 – 5 ).
Lions
struck back almost immediately. Another
searching Jon Boden kick set up the position for an attacking line.
The ball was taken and moved crossfield.
When the move was halted, the ball came back the other way, and Guy
Manson-Bishop found himself in the centre berth……again!!
However, rather than slow the move as he had done previously, he
timed his pass to Chris Fara to perfection and the centre sliced through to
score under the posts. John
Boden added the simple conversion to put the Lion’s noses in front.
( 11 – 12 ).
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| Manson-Bishop
playing outside centre (as normal) manages not to slow down the ball
(not as normal) |
Chris
Fara - début try |
It
was just before half time, and Lions were approaching the twighlight zone
where they always manage to concede a score with their minds seemingly on a
half time cuppa. Today was no
exception as Guy Manson-Bishop conceded a penalty (again) for driving over
(again) to let Greg McDonald put over the simple kick to see Lions going in
at half time 2 points down.
Half
time
Moseley
14
Lions
12
This
was a game between the bottom 2 teams in the league…..and it showed.
However, it was Moseley who had looked the better organised and more
committed in the first half. Lions
needed to raise their game and score first to settle things in the second
half.
Jacques
Steyn took to the field for the second period in place of Stuart Potter, but
things quickly went from bad to worse.
More trouble in the front row at a scrum saw Neckie Mee awarded a
yellow card. Necky took
exception to this and seemingly told the referee so.
Unfortunately, the referee saw red, and so did Necky.
Now Lions were really up against it with the prospect of playing
almost the whole of the second half with a man short.
Greg McDonald pulled the 40 metres penalty wide, so at least insult
was not added to injury.
The
only things worthy of note in a messy period of play were a penalty against
Eddie for a high tackle (!!!) when he grabbed his opponent’s collar, and
almost a repeat of last week’s interception from the back of a line-out by
Tristan Prosser-Shaw, but this time the flanker could not take the ball
cleanly. A good Moseley kick
saw Lions with a line-out 10 metres from their own line, but a long throw
went horribly wrong, and Moseley were attacking again.
This time it was Greg McDonald’s turn to time his pass to
perfection as centre Simon Brading took advantage to score by the posts.
Greg McDonald added the conversion.
( 21 – 12 ).
Lions
took the game straight back to Moseley from the kick off, and when Moseley
were penalised, Jon Boden struck his kick straight and true from 25 metres.
( 21 – 15 ).
A
Moseley knock on saw the first scrum since Necky’s departure.
Lions took Guy Manson-Bishop off and replaced him with prop Richard
Moore to fill the not insubstantial gap left by Necky.
Good
work by Matt Vines, Jacques Steyn and Eddie Saunders almost found a way
through, but the ball was frustratingly lost in the tackle.
When Moseley kicked through and the ball bobbled loose, Moseley
flanker Rob Mourino cynically followed through on the man without the ball,
but his actions were totally missed by referee and touch judge.
Richard
Tarrant replaced Phil Greenbury, and Lions’ 7 man scrum promptly lost a
heel against the head to maintain the Moseley pressure. They should really have scored twice, but first there was a
knock on, and then an overlap was ignored at the expense of a kick through
that Matt Vines covered with ease.
The
excellent full back again showed his paces as he took a long kick through
and danced by 2 would-be tacklers to set up an attack. Unluckily his final kick into space bounced off a defender
and into touch.
The
Lions’ 14 now actually had Moseley under the cosh. Unfortunately it looked
as though the referee lost his yellow card when he showed it to Necky, as he
never produced it for a series of Moseley indiscretions that killed the ball
and prevented Lions gaining any real momentum.
From the last of these penalties, Jon Boden somehow managed to screw
his simple kick from in front of the posts wide.
Geoff
Gregory almost got away with a bullocking run down the wing, but Lions’
desperate cover bundled him into touch a couple of metres short.
Lions managed to clear despite hooker Richard Protherough being miles
offside……another offence that the referee chose to ignore.
However, he didn’t ignore the niggling Mr. Protherough’s next
indiscretion when he fell to the floor as if pole-axed from a simple push.
The referee spotted his little game and awarded a penalty against him
for play acting……not something you see every week in the game of rugby!!
Lions
brought on Ben Smith and Marek Kwisiuk for Ben Wheeler and Matt Williams to
add fresh impetus, but it was all getting too frenetic as Lions chased the
game. At least Lions were
looking at a bonus point for only losing by 6 points.…that is until they
conceded a penalty for offside, and replacement Steven Nutt converted the
simple kick from in front of the posts.
( 24 – 15 ).
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Eddie
takes a heavy tackle |
...followed
up by a disgraceful and needless knee in the back by Moseley No
7. |
Lions
had one last chance as a clever Jon Boden kick off saw Jacques Steyn take
the ball and drive towards the Moseley line.
Another penalty to Lions, and Jon Boden had the opportunity to win
back the bonus point from long range, but his kick drifted agonisingly wide
as the referee put the suffering Lions’ supporters out of their misery.
Final
result:
Moseley
24
Lions
15
What
can I say that has not already been said numerous times on this site and on
the message board. It is
obvious that there is something seriously wrong at the club.
There is simply no heart in the team and they are just not
performing. No heart…..and no
hope. If we were talking about
a horse it would have been put out of its misery some time ago.
If we were in Japan, someone would have fallen on their sword by now.
If we had been a football team, the manager would have been sacked
after gaining just 1 point from a possible 35!!
We
were promised that things would improve over time……instead they are
getting worse. How much longer
are we expected to remain patient? The
issues must really be tackled NOW by the management and coaching
team……or is that where the real problems lie???
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