London Welsh
Moseley v London Welsh - Match Preview
By Mark W-J
October 21 2009
While the rebranded Championship is still regarded as the poor relation of the Premiership, it is the home to some of the big club sides of the last 30-odd years. Members of a certain age will remember the days when the visit of the likes of Coventry or Moseley would be billed as rugby’s ‘match of the day’, the two teams packed with internationals and, of course, British Lions.
In the amateur era, Bedford, Coventry and Bristol all won the John Player Cup outright, and Moseley shared the trophy with Gloucester in 1981-82 in their third appearance in the final, a repeat of the inaugural final 10 years earlier. On the way to their ‘victory’ at Twickenham, Moseley had beaten Welsh 25-9 in a 4th round tie at The Reddings, thereby gaining some revenge for our 10-10 ‘triumph’ as the away team in the 1976-77 quarter-final. Welsh had to wait another three years until our one and only appearance in the final, and after our 24-15 defeat had seen Bath retain the trophy, it was Moseley who finally ended the West Country side’s unbeaten run of 22 wins with a 4-3 victory in 1987-88. Greg Evans against Moseley last season
By this stage, league rugby had been introduced, and Moseley were placed immediately in the top flight. The first season was distinctly average – five wins from 11, 167 points scored and 170 conceded, finishing 7th of 12 overall. But over the next three seasons the win:loss ratio worsened year-on-year until, at the end of 1990-91 with just one win and a draw from 12 fixtures they were relegated alongside Liverpool St.Helens, to be replaced by London Irish and Rugby. Again, Moseley were a picture of consistency in Courage Two, finishing comfortably mid-table – as high as 5th but no lower than 8th – for seven consecutive seasons as Welsh stumbled down and then up the league ladder.
Although our two clubs have been playing one another since November 1925, this Saturday marks the 11th anniversary of our very first league meeting, a 31-16 win for the Exiles at The Reddings. That win was itself our first true victory – as opposed to the aforementioned cup tie – in Moseley for 31 years, although we have claimed a further five wins from seven subsequent league visits. Not that we visit The Reddings any more, of course. Moseley were one of the first victims of the professional era, the club being put into administration in January 1998 after ploughing an estimated £3m into a failed bid for promotion. The Reddings, the club’s home since 1880, had been sold to Bryant Homes and although a consortium of former players formed a new company to take the club forward, they left the old ground at the end of the 1999-2000 season.
Initially they moved to the University of Birmingham at Bournbrook, but more red-tape – this time in terms of planning permission and even covenants restricting the sale of alcohol – meant that the business plans could not be realised. At this point, Firoz Kassam, owner of Oxford United FC, was watching London Irish’s plans to tap into the potential market for rugby union in the Thames Valley with interest, and he proposed a takeover of the club which would include rebranding and relocating. Another new consortium was formed to oppose his plans, and on 26th July 2002 the creditors - who had been offered 25p in the pound by Kassam – voted by a margin of just 1.7% to accept the consortium’s offer. It was such a close-run contest that our own Year of the Dragon for the 2002-03 season provides directions to Oxford Eagles’ ground, the Kassam Stadium!
With limited funds and a diminished squad 2002-03 was always likely to be a challenging season, and so it proved with only four wins and 1178 points conceded at an average of 45 per game – more even than Rugby Lions, who finished bottom with 26 defeats from 26. Following the inevitable relegation, Mose slowly found their feet in National Two, and after finishing third behind Doncaster and Newbury in 2004-05 they left Bournbrook for a new home at Billesley Common. Promotion was duly won at the third time of asking, 23 wins from 26 with 18 try-bonus points seeing them crowned Champions ahead of Waterloo.
The first season back at level two proved to be a struggle, but a final-day win at already relegated Waterloo, combined with a Welsh win at Otley, saw the Midlanders survive. Since then they’ve improved steadily to finish 10th and 8th. Last season, lest we forget, they also turned back the clock with victory in the National Trophy final against Leeds at Twickenham. In doing so, however, they unwittingly became the focal point of every argument in opposition of the play-offs which have been introduced in The Championship this season. How can a team which finished the league season in 8th place, having lost more games than they won, be crowned Champions? And yet, having beaten London Welsh in the quarter-finals, Exeter in the semi-finals and Leeds in the final they have shown just how such an outcome might be achieved and in so doing – so some would have us believe – proved that the play-off concept is fundamentally flawed.
For now, the play-offs are a long way off, but they still dominate the internet chat. Welsh’s bonus-point win over Pirates last weekend has moved us back up to 6th, displacing Moseley who had a creditable 19-9 defeat at Bristol. They’ve won three from seven, back-to-back victories over Doncaster, Coventry and Plymouth suggesting that come the spring they will be on the cusp of the top eight, the perceived barometer of success. The Exiles will be wary of a potential banana-skin – for all the plaudits from visiting fans from Bedford and Cornwall, we’re all well aware that we’ve only picked-up a single victory on our travels thus far. That our three defeats have been away to the league’s top three sides will hopefully not be taken as an excuse to let our guard slip.
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www.moseleyrugby.co.uk - follow the link from the home page.
London Welsh Team for Saturday v Moseley
1. Dorian Williams
2. Chris Whitehead
3. Michael Holford
4. Matt Garvey
5. Mike Powell
6. Matt Corker
7. Michael Hills
8. Nathan Bonner-Evans
9. Rob Lewis
10. Gordon Ross (captain)
11. Errie Claassens
12. Simon Whatling
13. Neil Starling
14. Paul Sampson
15. Aled Thomas
Replacements
16. Dan George
17. Lorne Ward
18. Jonathan Mills
19. Robert Bell
20. Nick Runciman
21. Paul Mackey
22. Dominic Shabbo
Quote:dottigirl
Team from LW site:
London Welsh Team for Saturday v Moseley
1. Dorian Williams
2. Chris Whitehead
3. Michael Holford
4. Matt Garvey
5. Mike Powell
6. Matt Corker
7. Michael Hills
8. Nathan Bonner-Evans
9. Rob Lewis
10. Gordon Ross (captain)
11. Errie Claassens
12. Simon Whatling
13. Neil Starling
14. Paul Sampson
15. Aled Thomas
Replacements
16. Dan George
17. Lorne Ward
18. Jonathan Mills
19. Robert Bell
20. Nick Runciman
21. Paul Mackey
22. Dominic Shabbo
Matt Corker at blind side flanker?
Aled's goalkicking was certainly missed, so I can understand his return, and I'm guessing Lee Beach and Ben Gotting are both injured given that they've disappeared from the 22 completely.
Hats off to Danny the team of coaches and physio's for insuring we still have a very strong line up. PADDYTAF
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2009:10:23:20:04:05 by paddytaf.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:10:24:15:30:22 by Blackheath Welsh.
C,mon welsh 
yyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssssss 
who scored any of the tries And Doncaster beat Bristol 26-22. Hallowe'en at ODP will be quite a game!
A very frustrating game to watch. Moseley created nothing and we dropped everything.
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