BIRMINGHAM MOSELEY 27-26 ROSSLYN PARK

16/11/24

By RHYS STRATTON

James Cordy-Redden got the 1st XV off the mark within the first 10 minutes when his chip in behind forced Moseley to carry the ball into touch and pinned them inside their own 22. Just a minute later, an Archie Hosking pick from the base of an attacking scrum and an offload to Cordy-Redden saw the winger dive over. The home side answered back through the boot of Jack Jolly before a powerful Matt Woodward carry following a lineout in the final third added to the Park lead. Then, Cordy-Redden and Hosking combined once again as the winger bumped off a tackler out wide before popping the ball to the supporting back-rower who ran it in and extended the lead to 16 points. Moseley cut into this advantage before the break when Ben Pogson steered a maul over the Park try line and then shrunk it even further the other side of half time with another, near-identical maul try by the hooker. The hosts then proceeded to edge in front with a second Jolly penalty before the 1st XV were finally able to answer back and retake the lead through Jasper Cameron following lineout near the Moseley tryline. A fraught final quarter followed, with the flow of the match slowing to a near stagnant pace thanks to multiple scrum resets, penalties and injury stoppages. Moseley, needing a converted try, were awarded two quick penalties as time was winding down and found themselves with a lineout deep in Park territory. Then, in the last play of the game, Ollie Allsopp shot through a gap following the set-piece and snatched a memorable victory for the home side from the jaws of defeat. Despite the heart-breaking manner of the loss, the two bonus points collected on the way mean the 1st XV have leapfrogged Blackheath and now sit in 4th in the table.

ROSSLYN PARK 

Tries: Cordy-Redden (7’), Woodward (16’), Hosking (32’), Cameron (68’)
Conversions: Bragman (17’, 33’, 69’)
Penalties: N/A
Yellow Cards: N/A

Team: Cade, Miller, Woodward, Gillanders, Spencer, Hosking, Ellis, Wrafter, Fenley, Bragman, Marfo, Kennaugh, J. Smith, Cordy-Redden, Walker

Replacements: Cameron, Charalambous, Bolwell, Mulchrone, Manihera

BIRMINGHAM MOSELEY

Tries: Pogson (34’, 45’), Allsopp (80’)
Conversions: Jolly (35’, 46’), Taylor (80’)
Penalties: Jolly (13’, 55’)
Yellow Cards: N/A

Team: Priest, Pogson, Langley, Safe, Butler, Peters, Dawes, Stedman, Jolly, Taylor, Painter, Allsopp, A. Smith, Brough, Pointon

Replacements: Biggs, Kayada, F. Smith, Miles, Nevitt

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Bishop’s Stortford 33 – 19 Darlington Mowden Park
Dings Crusaders 31 – 15 Sale FC
Leicester Lions 31 – 36 Esher
Plymouth Albion 15 – 20 Richmond
Rams 33 – 14 Blackheath
Sedgley Park 30 – 35 Rotherham Titans

This week in National One saw both Rams and Richmond remain undefeated as they saw off the challenges of Blackheath and Plymouth respectively whilst Dings narrowed the gap to Sale in the table with an impressive win against the Manchester outfit. Elsewhere, the fight to avoid relegation remains interesting as Esher’s win in Leicester and Rotherham’s win in the Northwest sees the Esher leapfrog Sedgley Park into 11th. Meanwhile, DMP’s loss at Stortford coupled with the 2 bonus points picked by Leicester against Esher leaves Darlington 4 points adrift of the 13th placed Lions at the bottom of the table.

Up Next for Park is a home stand against Plymouth Albion at The Rock. Click here to purchase match tickets online,