Lions turned in an indifferent performance against 2^nd Division Moseley, and the consensus in the clubhouse from supporters and players alike was “can do better”.  Lions fielded what is probably going to be very close to the starting line up for next week’s opening league fixture against Darlington, but also managed to bring on several; “fringe” players to allow them to stake their claim. 

Moseley were first to show their paces, but a solid Lions’ defence repulsed everything that was thrown at them.  Necky quickly showed that he has lost none of his competitive edge, when he was asked by the referee at the first scrum to leave the field for a cooling off period …….Jamie Tyers replaced him whilst Necky took the long walk back to the dugout. 

Moseley were soon on the scoreboard when the ball was taken blind from the scrum and wing James Aston powered over in the corner.  Ollie Thomas, who impressed throughout in every facet of the game, added an immaculate touchline conversion.   ( 0 – 7 ) 

Lions attacked from the restart and were awarded a penalty at a line out.  Obviously playing the game in a competitive scenario, Lions opted to go for goal, and Allan Mitchell struck his kick perfectly.  ( 3 – 7 ) 

He repeated the exercise 2 minutes later when Moseley were penalised for not rolling away from the tackle.  ( 6 – 7 ) 

Moseley responded quickly when it was Lions turn to be penalised, and the ever-alert Ollie Thomas took a quick tap to scythe through a paper-thin Lions’ defence and deliver the perfect scoring pass for James Aston to cross for his second try.  This time the conversion was wide.  ( 6 – 12 ) 

Necky returned to the fray having cooled down for 10 minutes, but tempers frayed again as several players joined in a fracas on the touchline.  The good news was that Lions had the upper hand with more players involved than Moseley.  The bad news is that play was continuing whilst this altercation was taking place, which meant that Moseley had more players actually involved in the game than Lions.  They made their numerical superiority count when Ollie Thomas ghosted through a huge gap to score, and then add the conversion.  ( 6 – 19 ) 

Gareth Collins intercepts

Moseley were soon on the attack in Lions’ 22 again as the ref. failed to blow up for blatant crossing.  However justice was done as Moseley moved the ball wide, but Gareth Collins anticipated the pass beautifully to intercept and race 70 metres for an excellent try.  Allan Mitchell added the conversion.  ( 13 – 19 ) 

Lions now brought on Jamie Tyers again for the tiring Necky Mee, whilst Wilf Barclay took over from Eddie Simkiss. 

The final 10 minutes of the half were a scrappy affair, with neither side really being able to bring any shape or cohesion to their attacks. 

Half time 

Lions  13           Moseley  19

Starting line-up:

15     Allan Mitchell

14     Alan Makaka

13     Matt Goode

12     James Hawken

11     Gareth Collins

10     Andy Regan

9       Mike Mainwaring

1       Richard Mee

2       Matt Davies

3       Tristan Wati

4       Steve Stewart (Captain)

5       Steve Halsey

6       Eddie Simkiss

7       Alex Nash

8       Paul Thomson 

Replacements:

Ben Clarke

David Jackson

Tim Douglas

Glen Carson

Carl Southwell

Jamie Tyers

Will Jones

Wilf Barclay

Lions brought on Ben Clarke for Allan Makaka, who sadly never received a pass that might have allowed the speedy winger to open his legs and show his class, as David Coleman once commented.  Ben came into the centre, with James Hawken moving out to the wing.  Young David Jackson replaced Mike Mainwaring at scrum half, whilst Carl Southwell came on at hooker in place of Matt Davies. 

Lions started with a sense of purpose and were soon putting Moseley under pressure.  A beautifully judged chip from Dave Jackson from a maul saw Gareth Collins and Allan Mitchell harassing the defence, and it was Gareth who was on hand to pick up the bobbling ball with his back to the line, and execute a gold medal standard back flip to touch down.  Allan Mitchell’s conversion was just wide.  ( 18 – 19 ) 

Lions were now in spitting distance of Moseley, but chose to make several replacements with Glen Carson replacing Alex Nash, Tim Douglas coming on for Ben Clarke, and Alan Makaka returning in place of Gareth Collins.  Moseley also made wholesale changes, which seemed to galvanise the team, and the 2^nd Division team showed the difference between the leagues to score 4 tries with no reply against some not very convincing Lions’ tackling.  Ollie Thomas converted 3 of the tries to open up a substantial gap.  ( 18 – 45 ) 

Excellent backing up by Lions gained 50 metres, but this was undone at a stroke when the referee reversed a penalty for some reason, and Lions were back on the defensive.  Simple back play from Moseley stretched the Lions defence, first right and then back left, for a well-worked  try in the corner.  Ollie Thomas added another superb touchline conversion.  ( 25 – 52 ) 

However, it was the Lions that had the honour of the final score.  A determined run from Wilf Barclay set up the position for Tristan Wati to continue the move with a bullocking run that allowed Glen Carson to crash over.  Allan Mitchell could not add the conversion.   

Final result: 

Lions  30           Moseley  52

Don's musings 

Despite putting up a creditable performance against higher ranking opposition, Lions know that there are areas of their game that must be improved before next Saturday.  The line out was woeful throughout the game, and at times the tackling in the centre of the field was far from convincing.  The good thing is that these are areas that BrettanElla can work on before the league game against Darlington next Saturday. 

On the positive side, the spirit and commitment in the side was excellent, with impressive personal performances from Allan Mitchell, Wilf Barclay (surely a star of the future), and Tristan Wati.  The other positive was the solid scrum performance, where Jamie Tyers did an excellent job taking over from Necky Mee. 

So the pre-season posturing is now over, and we are down to the serious stuff next Saturday.  The squad have proved what they can do against strong opposition, and they need to come out of the blocks next Saturday believing that they can beat anyone.  They then need to turn in an all-action performance for the full 80 minutes.  Too many times last season Lions played some impressive rugby to get their noses in front, but then switched off and allowed the opposition to get back into the game.  This year the Lions must display a ruthless streak and ensure that when teams are down, they stay down. 

There is an excellent spirit throughout the squad, and even though the starting line-up for Saturday is probably in BrettanElla’s minds, the people on the fringe of the squad are pushing hard for recognition.  So come on you Lions………give the Sheddites something to cheer about on Saturday.  We’ve supported you through 2 very lean years……….now its pay back time.