Moseley Oak 43-7 Kenilworth

On a lovely spring day Kenilworth Men's 1st XV visited Billesley Common in Birmingham to play Moseley Oak, Birmingham Moseley's second team.

In the first nine minutes both sides were sussing each other out with Moseley in the ascendency in the scrum, Kenilworth were competing in the lineout and both sets of backs having a real go at each other running the ball.

On 10 minutes Moseley opened the scoring with fast ball off a ruck in the Kenilworth 22 metre area and a well taken try by right winger Ollie Jones converted by fly half Cal Megram to make the score 7-0.

Both sides were making quite elementary handling mistakes on the harder ground and not necessarily under great pressure. This made the next passages of play in the match very stop start, with hardly any continuity and fluidity.

Kenilworth looked out of sorts in the lineout on their own ball which created a greater burden than necessary and it meant possession was limited. Consequently on 25 minutes Moseley scored again through full back Joel Keenan who ran a lovely support line off a scrum in the Kenilworth 22 metre area to dot down.

This was converted by fly half Cal Megram to make the score 14-0 and Kenilworth facing an up-hill climb.

In the second half Moseley Oak opened the scoring with a well struck penalty in front of the posts, and 35 metres out. The penalty was kicked by Cal Megram again, after Kenilworth were off their feet at a ruck, and this took the score to 17-0.

In truth, Kenilworth were finding it difficult to get into a scoring position, but this was rectified when they managed some fine continuity which resulted in a scrum penalty, Bobby Thompson tapped and went and offloaded to Sandeep Dhaliwal, running against the defensive grain and scoring over the whitewash, this was converted by Mark O'Connor. 17-7.

Immediately Moseley went on the attack from the kick off and planted themselves in the Kenilworth half. Kenilworth's defence held firm under continued pressure and forced Moseley to make handling errors.

Kenilworth were unfortunately giving away too many penalties to help Moseley gain the ascendency they needed. Consequently, they scored a try off a lineout drive by the forwards, and this was again converted by Cal Megram to make the score 24-7.

To their credit, Kenilworth then spent the next 5-10 minutes in the Moseley half, applying real pressure to get over the line. However, they were unable to score, due to the well organized and patient Moseley defence.

With the home advantage and the greater continuity in play, Moseley scored the next try through left winger Jaden Colvin who ran down his wing beating the cover defence of Kenilworth and scoring in the corner from 60 metres out. This score was unconverted and the score was 29-7.

This long- range try was quickly followed by another Moseley try through their back rower Charlie Spencer who gratefully fielded a Kenilworth 22 drop out and side stepped from 30 metres out to score in the corner; this one was converted by Cal Megram to take the score to 36-7.

Kenilworth seemed to lose their mojo in the next five minutes as Moseley scored again through their full back Joel Keenan who ran in after some slick handling and effective running lines.

Again, this score was converted by Cal Megram to make the score 43-7 at the referee's final whistle. This very effective and clinical last 20 minutes by Moseley Oak showed why they are at the top of the table with several well taken tries as Kenilworth's defence wavered.

Bobby Thompson was again Kenilworth's stand out player in defence and attack. This was not the result that they wanted as the team gained no league points.

The focus is on next Saturday now as Kenilworth play hosts to Malvern with a 2.15 kick off. This league continues to be tight and indeed very interesting with many teams fighting for their positions in the pecking order.

Kenilworth need to come out of this encounter with as many league points as possible. Your ongoing support is always welcome and very much appreciated.