Jersey 8 Moseley 39
Greene King IPA Championship
by William Church
Jersey came into this fixture on the back of last week's
disappointment away to Ealing, but still full of a confidence that
has been growing over the last couple of months.
In front of the largest home crowd of the season for a
Championship fixture, buoyed by extra support that came on the back
of the match being billed as a charity fundraiser for Macmillan
Jersey, the Reds were unable to live up to the pre-match hype.
Moseley were first to score when what appeared as a mix-up in
the home defence let the fullback in for an easy touch-down that
was then converted.
Jersey responded almost immediately with a useful counter-attack
from deep with Locke and McCrea combining well. Having carried to
within 10m of the Moseley line before being hauled down, Jersey
quickly recycled the ball out to O'Connor who launched a deft
cross-kick to Pointer on the right wing, who gathered and scored a
try that went unconverted to take the score to 5-7.
Jersey were next on the scoresheet through an O'Connor penalty,
before Moseley regained the lead with a penalty of their own late
in the half.
The first half was generally a scrappy affair and both sides
struggled to get any flow to their game, as there were too many
breakdowns and interruptions for injuries, but at least it was
evenly poised.
Much was expected of the second half, but it just didn't happen
for Jersey. The increasing penalty account against the home team,
coupled with a dominant Moseley scrum led to the ensuing downfall.
Moseley scored within two minutes of the restart with a well-worked
try finished in the bottom right-hand corner.
There were glimmers of play from Jersey that could have brought
more, but all too often they were playing on the back foot, and
often deep in their own half. And so it was, that on two occasions
when trying to run the ball out of trouble from deep, that Moseley
picked up two interceptions, and that really summed up the
afternoon.
Indiscipline certainly played a part and as the game entered the
final 10 minutes Jersey were first reduced to 14 as Maka'afi was
shown a red card for an off-the-ball incident and then to 13 as JB
suffered a yellow card as the Moseley drove the scrum backwards at
pace.
After the game a disappointed Biljon said, "We didn't stick to
our game plan, but take nothing away from Moseley, they are a
dogged outfit with some streetwise players, and some of our younger
members will have learned a lot from that." When questioned about
the reaction from the crowd he said, "The supporters should be
disappointed. They turned out in number today, and we have to
improve."
Jersey now have a week off before travelling to away face London
Welsh at the Kassam Stadium on Saturday 12th April at
the earlier kick-off time of 2pm.
Other scores from today were:
Plymouth Albion 20 Cornish Pirates 26
Bedford Blues 12 Rotherham Titans 33
Tomorrow sees the battle of the Exiles at the Scottish home
ground, Bristol take on Ealing Trailfinders and Nottingham host
Leeds Carnegie.
Jersey
Forwards: Sam Lockwood, Elvis Taione, Nick Selway, Nick
Campbell, Alex Rae (capt), Latu Maka'afi (RC 74), Joe Buckle, Ben
Maidment.
Backs: Jimmy Williams, Niall O'Connor, Mark McCrea, Dai
Bishop, Drew Locke, Grant Pointer, Jack Burroughs.
Replacements: Luke Stratford (72) for Taione, Jon
Brennan (YC 78) for Selway (54), Sean McCarthy for Lockwood (54),
Tom Brown for Maidment (51), Ryan Hodson for Buckle (51), Mark
Foster for Pointer (40), Nicky Griffiths for Williams (62).
Moseley
Forwards: Craig Voisey, Adam Caves, Ben Evans, Gregory
Charlton, Michael Powell (capt), Neil Mason, Oliver Robinson,
Christopher Brightwell.
Backs: Samuel Brown, Oliver Thomas, Matthew Williams,
Gregory King, Scott Armstrong, Simon Hunt, Anthony Carter.
Replacements: Thomas Warren for Voisey (62), William
Evans for Caves (71), Adam Parkins for Evans B (71), Nigel Burrows
for Robinson (66), Buster Lawrence for Charlton (54), Alex Day for
Brown (66), Michael Penn for King (58, 71).
Referee: Steve Lee
Attendance: 2,664
Half-time: 8-10
Men-of-the-match: McCrea (Jersey), King
(Moseley)
Scorers:
Jersey
Try: Pointer (10)
Penalty: O'Connor (16)
Moseley
Tries: Carter (6), Hunt (42, 62, 75), Williams (80)
Conversions: Thomas (6, 62, 75, 80)
Penalties: Thomas (37, 53)
