Moseley 17 v Doncaster Knights 20

The Knights significantly boosted their survival chances with a gutsy win away against fellow strugglers Moseley. The victory puts the Knights five points ahead of the Midlanders and keeps touch with the sides directly above them in the league.

This crucial Friday evening Championship tie with in front of the impressive new Billesley Common stand was played in bitter cold and with a gale force wind blowing straight down the pitch.

The Knights had the advantage of both the slope and the ‘breeze’ in the opening forty and started brightly. An early line out steal by Jon Phelan saw Donny counter attack, the ball went through hands and Dougie Flockhart broke powerfully down the right wing. At the resulting breakdown Moseley knocked on and a scrum penalty gave Dougie a chance to open the scoring. The winger misjudged the wind and his attempt sailed well wide.

The missed attempt did not slow the Knights down however who were immediately back on the attack after Ollie Thomas’ 22m drop out into the wind made no ground whatsoever and Hills collected smartly. Donny came forward and forced another penalty, this time in front of the posts and Flockhart made no mistake, 0-3.

A high shot on number eight Alex Shaw created the impetus for the game’s opening try. A penalty to touch set up good field position for the Knights who broke through Flockhart, he threw a pass that bounced nicely for Paul Jarvis. The full back collected and then showed his pace to round his opposite man and gallop home, Flockhart added the extras.

Moseley were giving the Knights plenty of opportunities early on as they continued to struggle against the howling wind and things only got worse for the host when centre Greg kind was stretchered from the field of play on the quarter hour mark. A yellow card quickly followed this for flanker Ed Siggery for a high tackle on Jarvis and the Knights really should have hammered home their advantage and been out of sight before half time.

The Knights did increase their lead shortly after, a powerful kick return from Flockhart got the Knights in good position and frantic defending from the home side produced a penalty against Mose. Quick thinking from Tomasi Palu saw the scrum half take a tap penalty to dart his way over for the game’s second score. Flockhart made it a seven point score with an on target kick, 0-17.

As the clock ticked towards half time Moseley made their first raids into the Knights half. A penalty was won on the floor and put to touch by Ollie Thomas and the Mose driving lineout that cause the Knights so many problems in the reverse fixture got it’s first call to action. Prepped and ready the Knights forwards defended the maul capably but when the ball was spun in field a nice piece of individual skill from replacement Will Hooley saw him burst through a gap in midfield to touchdown. Thomas added the extras to remind the Knights that they were still in a game.

The Knights did have a chance to add to their score at the end of the first half but a long-range penalty from Flockhart was sent wide. The half time whistle came and whilst the Knights held a 7-17 advantage on the scoreboard there was an underlying feeling that with the wind and slope against them in the second half a ten-point lead may not be enough.

As expected Moseley came out much improved in the second half, enjoying the majority of possession and territory after the restart. The Knights held firm and credit must go to the pack for their tireless work on the floor, time after time winning penalties as Mose gathered momentum. Unfortunately the wind prevented Piers Francis from being able to establish attacking field position from the penalties to touch.

The scores stayed the same deep in to the second half, Ollie Thomas did have a chance to cut the gap but his long-range penalty almost mirrored Flockhart’s just before half time and fell wide. Both coaches made wholesale changes setting up what was a grandstand final ten minutes.

After a number of reset scrums in midfield referee Wigglesworth eventually blew for a Moseley penalty. On loan from Northampton Saints, Will Hooley added a penalty to his earlier try to put Moseley within a converted score of the Knights. The kick sparked life into Griff’s troops who responded perfectly. Having won the ball at the restart they patiently attacked the hosts defensive line, countless phases of carries from first receiver and good, solid support saw Donny battle into the home 22m. As frustrations grew over-eagerness in the Mose defence was penalized and a penalty for offside was awarded. Dougie slotted it to restore the ten point advantage with five minutes left to play.

The game’s final offerings saw Moseley throw everything forward and once again Hooley proved to be the catalyst for their more potent attack. The replacement fly half stripped the ball in contact on broke before being brought down just a couple of metres shy of the Knights line. Donny scrambled back furiously but when the ball was flung wide to winger Drew Cheshire he took advantage of the overlap and raced in. Hooley converted to set up an extremely tense final two minutes of the game.

The sizeable travelling Knights fans had their hearts in mouth when Villi Veikoso’s wind-affected throw at a nicely worked line out was judged not straight but it did not matter as Donny held on for a narrow but extremely important win.

The Knights now hold a five-point lead over Moseley with Plymouth travelling to Sixways tomorrow to face the league leading Worcester Warriors. Knights fans may now pay particular interest to Sunday’s proceedings at Headingley where Carnegie host Bedford, both teams just two points better off than that Knights.

Match Statistics

Moseley

15) Anthony Carter, 14) Mike Penn, 13) Scott Armstrong, 20) Greg King (Will Hooley 14’), 11) Drew Cheshire, 10) Ollie Thomas (David Brazier 61’), 9) Sam Brown, 1) Nathan Williams (Simon Gardiner 70’), 2) Adam Caves (Scott Toimie 75’, 3) Craig Voisey, 4) Mike Powell (Alex Woolford 76’), 25) Greg Charlton (Nile Dacres 66’), 6) Neil Mason (Teimana Harrison 57’), 7) Ed Siggery, 8) Chris Brightwell.

Replacements; 16) Scott Toimie, 17) Simon Gardiner, 18) Nile Dacres, 19) Teimana Harrison, 20) Alex Woolford, 21) David Brazier, 22) Will Hooley.

Tries; Hooley 37’, Cheshire 78’

Conv; Thomas 37’, Hooley 78’

Pens; Hooley 71’

Sin bin; Ed Siggery 20’

Knights

15) Paul Jarvis, 14) Dougie Flockhart, 13) Mat Clark, 12) Terrence Hepetema, 11) Tyson Lewis, 10) Piers Francis, 9) Tomasi Palu, 1) Tom Davies (Richard List 65’), 2) Ben Hunter (Viliame Veikoso 57’), 3) Colin Quigley (WillGriff John 70’) 4) Tyler Hotson (Latu Makaafi 57’), 5) Jon Phelan, 6) Matt Challinor, 7) Michael Hills ©, 8) Alex Shaw (Ollie Stedman 76’).

Replacements; 16) Richard List, 17) WillGriff John, 18) Ollie Stedman, 19) Viliame Veikoso 20) Latu Makaafi, 21) Ume Fosita, 22) Brad Field.

Tries; Jarvis 9’, Palu 28’

Conv; Flockhart 11’, 28’

Pens; Flockhart 6’, 75’

Attendance: 1,116

Referee: Tim Wigglesworth