Yorkshire Carnegie
The Battle of Billesley Common
XV on the pitch here
By Rocky The Tyke
September 20 2014
Following a drive from Ramsgate to Moseley (via my home in Cambridgeshire) I arrived knackered by the journey and just wanted a beer and a good game. What happened wasn't something I expected.
A small group of us stood under the shell of the concrete statue in memory of Andy Robinson (I've since been told this will be the new stand). The players emerged resplendent in the blue away kit emblazoned with our controversial sponsor ready to do battle with our foe...the tenacious and oft dogged Moseley.
The prerequisite pork bap and drink were quickly devoured as the game kicked off, my notes, which acted as a makeshift napkin, detailed a trait that would be evident through the game, the officials whistle and a penalty against Yorkshire. A successive run of penalties against the boys in blue gave the Moseley 10, Caolan Ryan, the chance to take the first points of the game.
A great attack from YC managed to earn a penalty which Leonard duly converted although in Classic Leeds style they gave away a penalty almost immediately to hand the initiative to Moseley and the score on the board was 6-3.
From the kick off a loose return kick from Moseley fell to buzz who charged through the Moseley defence leaving them in his wake like skittles at a bowling alley, we was eventually dragged down but a penalty to YC too the score to 6-6.
The scrum, which was solid, elicited a penalty which Pilgrim set off, great hands and offloads took us just short of the line and Jones, with the line at his mercy, was pulled down. Quick recycling and a deft cross field kick from Hughes fell to TykesRugby.co.uk's very own Ulsterman Mcllwaine who crossed for the games opening try. The conversion was off target but the score was now 11-6 to our boys.
Yorkshire looked to have the momentum, a great catch and drive from the line out was dragged down illegally by Moseley but YC were pinged at the next line out and the attacking opportunity was lost. Moseley made ground from more YC pens before brilliant work from Goss and Hughes kept the ball in and launched an attack, ASBO rampaged and offloaded but sadly again it petered out.
It was Moseley who then cut the best line of the game, their 12 cut through on the angle and was charging for the line. A great coordinated tackle by Hughes and Mcllwaine chopped him down, excellent close quarter tackling forced the knock on by Moseley. Sadly an infringement of pulling the scrum down gave Moseley a simple pen to take the score to 9-11 with about 30 on the clock. Moseley had their tails up and a silly blocking run and shoulder from Edwards resulted in a yellow for the Leeds Beckett lad and a penalty to Moseley which gave the a 12-11 lead.
One area of the game YC need to work on are their kick offs, throughout the game they were just too long and allowed Moseley to play with minimal pressure. We did however manage to win a penalty, Leonard converted it and we were back with the advantage in this ding dong half. 12-14 with 35 gone. However YC again gave away a penalty straight from the kick off but fortunately it was pushed wide and the lead was retained. Moseley were on a mission to cross the White was but more great close quarter defence by YC kept them out and a Moseley knock on was the last play of the half.
HT - Moseley Rugby 12 - 14 Yorkshire Carnegie
Discussions between those present covered several topics. Would our fitness win out, could we cut out the mistakes and the concern about the lack of depth in our back line with the current injuries. The general feeling was that, if we tightened up and cut out some of the errors we should be able to pick up the try bonus point and a win.....we didn't expect the second half to pan out as it did.
From the kick off the second half didn't go to plan, a deep kick off well chased by Moseley put Goss under pressure and his clearance was charged down, luckily a covering Pilgrim dotted it down. Leeds cleared the danger but Moseley still looked showed the attacking attitude of their coach Maggs with some great runs. Moseley were reduced to 14 men for an infringement at scrum time and the 'arrogant' Yorkshiremen went for the corner. A clean lineout take, a great 10 man drive and some grunting and shouts later Wakka emerged with the ball and YC had another meat pie. The conversion was missed but, as expected, soon after the kick off Yorkshire conceded another penalty which was slotted by Moseley to bring them back to within a converted try. (15-19).
The front row was replaced and, following some great hands and a great line by LaLa Edwards he crossed the line for his first Carnegie try and made amends for his earlier yellow. Leonard popped over the simple conversion and the supporters took a deep breath as we had a 26-15 lead and the hope was that we would push on?
We didn't, in fact the game deteriorated significantly for YC with the referee dishing out cards and penalties as if we was a Yes campaigner giving our leaflets in Scotland earlier in the week. First there were some pretty bland handbags between the forwards at the far end of a misty Moseley pitch however things escalated significantly. A Moseley boot appeared to fly in but the rest was a blur of arms and shirts and...when things had settled down Hannay was shown a straight red and Harris received a yellow. YC were down to 13 and most fans, from both sides, had no idea what had transpired. Somehow YC got the next score with hard work earning a penalty which Leonard dealt with and to take the score to 29-15.
The next score was a catch and drive by Moseley, the numerical advantage told and they marched over taking the score to 29-20 as the conversion was missed. Another penalty from the Moseley 10 took the score to 29-23 and the hopes of a bonus point win rapidly changed to concerns that we might be looking for a losing bonus point. This concern was further magnified when Yorkshire were reduced to 12 after a late shoulder tackle from Fitzpatrick was punished. Moseley put it into the corner and another catch and drive took the score to 29-28 with hardly any time remaining. That is when my notes end....a blur of swearing, shouting and praying for the final whistle followed. Leeds managed to get a scrum opportunity in front of the posts, it was all hands to the pump and Lucock,who had done well thus far, packed down at 7. Obviously his influence was massive as Yorkshire managed to win a penalty and the team celebrated like an X-Factor winner. The last action of the game was for Leonard to put the easy kick through the posts to secure a heart attack inducing 32-28 win.
After getting a beer and having a debrief the general consensus was that, at least it was a win. Sadly that is the only thing you can take from this, 4 points was good and we are unbeaten away from home. The close quarters defence was good but Moseley made some good breaks and could have won the game if their support runners were sharper. Discipline was a concern, to get a straight red is difficult in rugby but not only that but to get 3 yellows is not going to work when we are playing against the Bristol and Worcester's of this league.
Our pack looks good with decent depth but with injuries our backline needs some strength in depth in case we lose playmakers of the team. Moseley on a Friday night is tough and, although they played well, the tight result was entirely of our own making.
The battle might have been won but the war that is the 2014-2015 Greene King IPA Championship has only just begun.
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20/09/2014 16:57
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014:10:05:12:45:51 by Wildwillie .
BTW I spotted "Leeds" near the end (easily done!).
Following on Twitter was hard going, we went from seemingly cruising to clinging on for dear life.
Winning ugly is always better than losing and this seemed like a very hard fought 4 points. Credit to the few left on the pitch at the end for holding on
Well at least he seems to be taking it all very seriously!
We should have been able to take 5 points from this...we might have been able to take a LB point from Bristol...all these lost opportunities will eventually add up.
Surely after last season we can sort out our penalty count.....always our own worst enemy!
Some really good stuff eclipsed by lots of daft errors...wont get away with it against Donny...much more self discipline needed....could very easily have lost and did well to take 4 in the end?
Looking forward to a more confident performance next week......
Sounds like a bit of a one off discipline wise, certainly hope so.
We won but if we carry that performance level through to Sunday I predict we'll get battered. Don't think anything else needs saying.
Onwards and upwards.
Some major work ons for us this week.
1. Keeping 15 on the park
2. Defence in 10/12 channel
(couple of really bad misses in the clip)
3. Creativity in the backs (Not one line break from 10, 12, or 13)
Positives were the win, scramble defence, and the effort put in by those left on the park especially when we were down to 12.
Thought the pack were taking a stranglehold when we made the wholesale changes and stretched out to a 14 point lead but the multiple yellows and red changed all that. Hope to see the injured lads back this week especially Doc so we can get players back in their natural positions.
