Moseley made to work hard but DMP miss out on bonus
BIRMINGHAM Moseley fought hard for the points against a resurgent Darlington Mowden Park RFC, who should class themselves as unlucky not to take a point from the game.
On an ideal day for rugby, second-placed Birmingham Moseley arrived in the north-east probably expecting an easy day and five points.
They perhaps took their hosts lightly and the home side were always in the game and looked dangerous when in possession.
Visiting head coach Kevin Maggs admitted: “We are pleased to get a win here at the Arena, as it is a long trip for us and teams will come here and find it hard.
“Our accuracy was not there, but to be fair to Darlington Mowden Park, they put us under a lot of pressure, which on occasions we found hard to deal with.”
In contrast, DMP head coach John Newton said: “We’re disappointed to get nothing from a game where we performed better than we have done recently.
“The game was scrappy, but as long as we take that intensity into the next games, we will improve. There were some decent performances from some players who have just come in and also returned from injury.”
An early opportunity for home full-back Caolan Ryan to put points on the board just inched wide as the visitors got accustomed to their surroundings.
A poor kick out of defence for Mowden was the catalyst for Moseley’s first try, as Drew Cheshire made rapid inroads into the home half. A penalty resulted, which the visitors kicked to the corner and lock Sam Pailor was on the end of a trademark catch and drive for the first try. Williams edged the conversion wide.
Within minutes Mowden were ahead, after full-back Will Murray raced through a gap in a retreating Moseley defence, with Ryan adding the extras.
Just prior to the halftime whistle Mowden were penalised ten metres from their own line and Moseley again kicked to the corner. The catch and drive was halted initially, but more
pressure was applied and although it looked like they would score anyway, the refree awarded a penalty try which was easily converted from under the posts by James Williams.
Mowden flanker Joe Craggs was sin-binned for his troubles.
As it had been a very tight game in the first half, so the same applied after the interval, and only three points were scored by the visitors to rob their hosts of any points at all, Williams coolly punishing a scrum offence penalty.
There was plenty of enterprise from Mowden and a few opportunities, but a mixture of tough defence and poor understanding conspired to frustrate the home team.
Moseley tried to add more points to their total, but some big defensive hits and wayward passes did not assist them to progress.
The sin-binning of influential skipper James Penman didn’t help the cause, but Moseley deserved their points on the day and showed why they are near the top of the league.