ROSSLYN PARK 29-22 BIRMINGHAM MOSELEY
15/03/25
The 1st XV held off a late charge by Birmingham Moseley to secure a bonus-point win at The Rock on Saturday.
The visitors opened the scoring early on through Ben Pogson at the back of a maul, before a high tackle allowed the Park pack respond in like fashion as Jasper Cameron steered a driving lineout across the Moseley try-line from 5m out. The two sides continued to exchange scores in the first half and Moseley re-took the lead after 20 minutes thanks to an excellent break by Aquile Smith that saw the winger race down to the 22 and offload it inside to Morgan Adderly-Jones for the easy finish. Then, a phenomenal 50-22 by Joe Luca Smith set the stage for Cameron to secure his first half-brace form the back of another maul. Before the break, the 1stXV twice came close to adding to their tally, but it was unfortunately the away side who scored next as Dan Brough dotted down under the posts in the final play of the half to edge Moseley back in front heading into the break.
A quick reply just the other side of half-time came following a yellow card for Moseley try-scorer Adderly-Jones, for cynically slowing down the ball during a Park break. This led to yet another Park driving lineout and yet another Cameron try, although this time after he broke away from the maul before crashing over to complete his hat-trick. The 1st XV continued to ride this momentum and a try-saving tackle by winger Charlie Walker was soon followed by a superbly taken try as Josh Bragman, James Cordy-Redden and Joe Luca Smith all combined to send the latter in under the posts. A nervy period followed, with neither side managing to make much ground, before a Bragman penalty extended the Park lead to 12 with less than 10-minutes to go. In the final 5, with the game seemingly out of reach, Moseley’s Freddie Painter crossed over in the corner to make it a one-score game and bolstered the hopes of the away side, who turned up the pressure and set up shop in the Park final third as the seconds ticked down. However, a penalty at a breakdown with the clock in the red ended all hopes of a Moseley comeback and cemented the win, making it 5 on the bounce for the 1st XV and 9 from the last 10!
By RHYS STRATTON
ROSSLYN PARK
Tries; Cameron (8’, 27’, 46’), J. Smith (54’)
Conversions; Bragman (10’, 28’, 55’)
Penalties; Bragman (72’)
Yellow Cards: N/A
Team: Woodward, Cameron, Charalambous, Gillanders, Bell, Ledger, Glover, Laventure, Mulchrone, Bragman, Marfo, Cordy-Redden, Stanton, Walker, J. Smith
Replacements: Wade, Hay, Spencer, Fenley, James
BIRMINGHAM MOSELEY
Tries; Pogson (3’), Adderly-Jones (20’), Brough (40’), Painter (76’)
Conversions; Taylor (40’)
Penalties; N/A
Yellow Cards; Adderly-Jones (42’)
Team: Priest, Pogson, McNulty, Barnes, Butler, Smith, Dawes, Safe, Miles, Taylor, A. Smith, Allsopp, Adderly-Jones, Brough, Painter
Replacements: Roach, Langley, Edwards, Stedman, Maxwell-Whiteley
AROUND THE LEAGUE
Blackheath 39 –33 Rams
Darlington Mowden Park 12 – 41 Bishop’s Stortford
Esher 15 – 26 Leicester Lions
Richmond 54 – 0 Plymouth Albion
Rotherham Titans 38 – 29 Sedgley Park
Sale FC 54 – 38 Dings Crusaders
This week in National One saw both Richmond and Sale each rack up 54-points in their victories against Plymouth and Dings respectively, with the league leaders also shutting out the side from the south coast at the same time. Elsewhere, Blackheath and Rotherham also joined Park in picking up bonus point wins at home over Rams and Sedgley, whilst Stortford and Leicester both emerged victorious from their away trips to Darlington and Esher respectively.
Up Next for Park is a lengthy trip down to Plymouth to take on an Albion side eager to bounce back from last weekend’s disappointing result.