Birmingham Moseley 41 Blaydon 13

Blaydon’s trip to Billesley Common to take on second placed unbeaten Moseley proved just as frustrating as their three earlier games in that a good first half performance was cancelled by a flurry of tries from the opposition.
The difference this time however was mainly down to usage of the elements, there being a gale force wind blowing straight down the pitch. Blaydon had it behind them for the first half and ran up a 13 point lead but it was quite rightly felt that this was somewhat insufficient and so it proved.
Moseley in their turn were far superior in their handling and organisation, keeping the visitors hemmed in their own 22 for long periods to run in 6 excellent tries.
Fly-half Andrew Baggett got the score-board moving with a 4th minute penalty when Moseley were caught offside in front of their posts and 15 minutes later scrum-half Nathan Horsfall put over a drop goal to make it 0-6.
Directly from the restart Blaydon regained possession and swept downfield to put Dan Marshall clear. The winger showed great speed and tenacity in shrugging off 2 tackles to cross near the posts for an unconverted score.
Five minutes from the interval Moseley scrum-half David Brazier landed a penalty in a rare visit to the Blaydon half to make it 3-13 at the break.
The teams turned round, the wind got stronger and Blaydon were not seen again as an attacking force. When they did manage to penetrate the home 22 they invariably lost possession and Moseley comfortably ran in tries through flank-forward Harry Hone (2), second-row Greg Charlton, centres Greg King and Tim Molenaar, and replacement Jacques Le Roux, full-back Mike Penn on target with 4 of the conversions.

John Brennan