Moseley 23 – 38 Knights

The Knights completed a home and away double over Moseley to take another step towards securing second place in the Greene King IPA Championship.

Five tries and a penalty were enough for Donny to silence the determined home side with an emphatic second half performance that sealed the game as well as the additional bonus point.

The Knights charged out under the lights to score the opening try within the first couple of minutes of the game’s kickoff. A turnover in the midfield halted the attacking home side with William Hurrell passing over to Mat Clark, who glided through the defence to install an almost immediate early lead. Declan Cusack converted an easy kick from close quarters.

Moseley were constantly fighting back however claiming a number of loose balls and pushing the Knights back into their own territory. The home team missed chances though as promising breakthroughs were halted inches away from the try line.

The opening twenty belonged to the hosts, despite the early try, as the Knights struggled to maintain or extend their lead. A loose line out set up Christopher Brightwell to charge at the Knights’ line, eventually finding the speedy Kyle Evans out wide who would not be stopped, Charlie Foley levelled the scores with the conversion.

The score buoyed the Midlanders, who seemed able to consistently win turnover ball when forced to defend. The early set pieces also seemed to go with the hosts this was highlighted when, on twenty minutes, they pushed the Doncaster pack behind the try line, forcing a penalty in close proximity of the posts. Foley slotted the three to put Mose in the lead for the first time.

Foley quickly added a second penalty to put the hosts six points to the good much to the vocal appreciation of the crowd occupying the shiny new stand at Billesley Common.

The Knights had not shown many signs of countering back against the home team’s onslaught since scoring in the early exchanges and belief was visibly beginning to grow in the hosts. It became quickly obvious that this Moseley side have no intention of going down without a fight this season and when Evans went over for second the signs looked ominous. A dash from the back of a midfield scrum set up a clear opportunity for number eight Brightwell but he stumbled and fell as he reached the 22m. Quickly recycled ball found its way back to Aaron Pinches, who sent it wide to Evans to cross.

At 18-7 there was only one side in the contest and the Knight needed to do something to bring themselves back into contention. Solid carries and patient phase play gave Donny a chance to establish possession but the home defence held firm and little ground was made. The Knights did not allow themselves to become frustrated and eventually, the opposition’s knees buckled. Will Hurrell made one of his trademark, powerful carries before handing onto Glen Young who pushed deeper into the Moseley defence. The ball was quickly sent out wide to the sprinting Tyson Lewis who outstripped his coverage and touched down. Cusack was on the money again with the extras reducing the deficit to just four points.

Moseley did not let their shoulders slump as they continually forced the Knights back into their own half with possession and hard running. Despite this it was the Knights who scored next following a superb piece of skill from Ollie Bryant, the fly half threw a lovely dummy before darting through the line to offload to Hurrell who trotted home untouched. Cusack added the extras and the Knights went into the half leading by three.

The Knights shifted up a gear for the start of the second half and took control of proceedings, however it did not translate into tries straight away. After some sustained pressure the hosts infringed and Cusack elected to have a go at three points, which he despatched with aplomb.

The momentum remained with the Knights following the penalty, the home defence stood firm but when Michael Heaney fed Mat Clark on a short line post scrum a gap was created. The centre carried through the line and with only full back Mike Penn ahead of him backed himself for the corner and got the score.

Cusack’s successful conversion looked like it was going to be enough to secure victory for the Knights however a yellow card was shown to Jon Phelan opened the door for the hosts. Hooker Adam Caves capitalised on another good carry from Brightwell at the back of the scrum to make the final stages interesting but the Knights had the final say.

A well-worked driving lineout was illegally halted by replacement front row Tom Fidler who was shown a yellow card for his indiscretion. The Knights went back to the corner and, following a clean take, raced through the home pack for another trademark driving lineout try, Alex Shaw the man to get the ball down.

The final score of 23-38 was perhaps a little harsh on a Moseley side who battled hard throughout and caused the Knights plenty of problems but it was another clinical finish from Griff’s charges who showed few ill effects of the five day turnaround.

Match Statistics

Moseley XV; 15) Michael Penn (Glyn Hughes 72’), 14) Kyle Evans, 13) Greg King, 23) Aaron Pinches) 11) George Watkins, 10) Charlie Foley, 9) David Brazier, 1) Craig Voisey, 2) Adam Caves (Scott Tolmie 69’), 3) Aaron Gardiner (Tom Fidler 56’), 4) Harry Casson (Ed Siggery 52’), 5) Greg Charlton, 6) Harry Hone, 7) Will Keenan, 8) Chris Brightwell ©

Replacements; 16) Tom Warren, 17) Scott Tolmie, 18) Tom Fidler 19) Ed Siggery, 20) Glyn Hughes, 21) Tim Molenaar, 22) Darren Hudson.

Tries; Evans 8’, 24’, Caves 66’

Conv; Foley 8’

Pens; Foley 19’ 22’

Sin bin; Fidler 79’

Knights: 15) Dec Cusack; 14) Andy Bulumakau, 13) Mat Clark, 12) Will Hurrell, 11) Tyson Lewis; 10) Ollie Bryant, 9) Michael Heaney (Brad Field 73’) 1) Rich List (Riccardo Brugnara 59’), 2) Ben Hunter (Vili Veikoso 69’), 3) Tiz Pasquali (Joe Sproston 69’), 4) Matt Challinor, 5) Jon Phelan (Tyler Hotson 68’), 6) Glen Young, 7) Michael Hills (c), 8) Alex Shaw.

Replacements; 16) Vili Veikoso, 17) Joe Sproston, 18) Riccardo Brugnara, 19) Tyler Hotson, 20) Paul Cooke, 21) Bevon Armitage 22) Brad Field.

Tries; Clark 2’, 52’, Lewis 31′, Hurrell 37’, 79’

Conv; Cusack 2’, 52’, 31’, 77’

Pens; Cusack 48’

Sin bin; Phelan 58’

Written by Oliver Smith.