Match Report - Albion 6 Moseley 9

By Ianbol
January 28 2013

As Saturday approached and the weather promised to be dry, possibly sunny but considerably warmer, I developed high expectations of an Albion home win. After all, we had beaten Moseley at their place, they were 3 places below us in the league and it seemed like ages since they last won at Brickfields. Again the crowd was disappointing with a mere 1,303 attending. The "gate" is a vital ingredient in club finances.

Moseley kicked off towards the club house, Albion gathered and rapidly moved the ball up field to pressurize the Moseley line. Albion maintained this pressure for several minutes but no score resulted. Moseley then made a dangerous looking break from a scrum, made much ground but fortunatley for Albion, fluffed the final pass. Albion worked the ball back up field, again pressed the Moseley line and were awarded a penalty which sailed through the posts, 3 - 0.

On a rare visit into the Albion half Moseley were awarded a penalty which, from almost half way, easily sailed through the posts thus eqalizing the score at 3 - 3.

The final flurry of the half saw Albion seemingly go over the line from a line-out and, as the ref consulted with his assistant the home fans held their collective breaths, until he decided that the ball was held up - scrum 5 Albion. At the scrum Albion again exerted great pressure forcing the Moseley pack backwards until they yielded a penalty. Many in the crowd thought that we should have maintained the pressure by replaying the scrum for another attempt at a push-over try. However the Captain opted for a shot at goal which was duely slotted making a half time lead of 6 - 3. But by this stage a try would have been really nice.

During the half Albion had serious territorial advantage, they seemed the better pack and the line-out was working [by comparison with previous outings] a treat with clean ball being rapidly spun out to the 3's. The 3's also worked well but couldn't find a way through the Moseley line. I found the half time score to be disappointing but, hey ho, we did go in with the lead - just. Surely, mused I, a lead to be built upon in the second half.

In the second half Albion again maintained pressure in Moseley's 25. An early chance of scoring went begging with an untimely knock-on and, shortly after, a Moseley clearance kick from the in-goal area was charged down. Moseley won the short race to touch down giving a scrum 5 to Albion. Again, Albion's pack put pressure on their pack and again Moseley were penalized. Again the Captain opted to go for goal which went wide. Another option, of course, would have been to go for the corner. However Moseley were let off the hook with a drop-out.

Shortly after, when Albion were still in their half, Moseley's 2nd row was sin-binned. Bemusingly to me, Albion chose to run the resultant penalty rather than, with the man advantage, going for the corner and nothing came out of it. Indeed we took no advantage whatsoever of having an extra man.

Moseley now became more frequent visitors to the Albion half, indeed, the 25. They seemed to have upped their gears. This was decidedly dangerous as they were now more into our red-zone with a proven kicker. And so it was to be. The 1st penalty from far out was missed but a 2nd, much easier, went over. 6 - 6.

My initial "high expectations" had by now been so seriously eroded that I felt we had reached a stage in this tryless, and for me uneddifying, game where I would have gladly settled for the draw. As the clock was ticking down Moseley got a scrum in Albion's 25 and this time it was they who put on the shove driving Albion right back several yards. To stop the push-over, Albion infringed, penalty and an easy kick at goal which wasn't wasted. 9 - 6. Ouch.

From the re-start, in injury time, Albion did well and won a very kickable penalty. I sensed panic as they took a tap penalty and immediately ran the ball into a dead-end, lost it and Moseley kicked it out for the final whistle.

The weather was enjoyable: the beer and food were enjoyable: the company was enjoyable: alass for the game !

Match Report - Albion 6 Moseley 9

Posted by: Unofficial Plymouth Albion (IP Logged)

Date: 28/01/2013 18:02

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