Balding hails Moseley’s spirit despite home loss

By ANDY MITCHELL

Moseley…………. 10pts

Tries: Combes 67, Fisilau 79

Cambridge…….. 21pts

Tries: Penalty try 29, Tarrant 35, Morley 55

Conversions: Johnston 36, 56

DIRECTOR of rugby Adam Balding endured a “tough” afternoon as Moseley were left empty-handed following a battling display against Cambridge.

The home side had nothing to show for their efforts as they trailed 21-0 after an hour of the contest, but they hit back with two tries in the last quarter.

Earlier, half an hour had passed with precious little incident before home duo James Tideswell and Ashley Johnson were sent to the sin-bin for infringements during Cambridge's first sustained push for the line.

Johnson's indiscretion was accompanied by a penalty try and, despite a spirited effort from the 13 men, Matt Hema then dummied to pass before switching a simple lift to his left into the run of Joe Tarrant, who scored with 35 minutes on the clock.

Moseley saw plenty of the ball when back to a full complement, but the visitors stood firm and bagged a crucial third try against the run of play, Harry Morley bustling through after an unlikely surge forward from Kieran Frost had got his side into the home 22.

High fives: Cambridge celebrate after Joseph Tarrant's try

PICTURES: Harish Chavda Dingle Images

Moseley's replacements provided more oomph than their counterparts, with Jack Combes alive to an untidy scrum in the 67th minute as he made it count before referee Tim Allatt could blow.

The hosts kept probing, Greg Fisilau nipping in to dab down following another scrum with less than two minutes to go and a grandstand push for a point followed.

However, Johnson saw red having crashed in, the domino effect resulting in a worrying head injury for team-mate Ben Thomas, and a delayed last play came to nothing – to the frustration of Balding.

“The lads conducted themselves really well and, with another five minutes, we might have got another try,” he said.

“While I felt we did not quite deserve to win the game, we were certainly worth a point, but we came up a little short.

“It was tough. After 30 minutes, it was 0-0 and the lads had defended really well playing into conditions.

Joy: Moseley celebrate their try by Greg Fisilau

“We faltered a little bit in terms of our accuracy at set-pieces, but apart from that, the first half an hour was superb.

“Two quick yellow cards and a penalty try was tough. We were hanging in there and going in 14-0 down with 13 men was hard to take, but we always knew playing with the elements in the second half would give us an opportunity to assert pressure.”

On the quickfire sinbins, Balding said: “It is not easy being an official. I would not want to do it and they do a great job.

“Sometimes it is about consistency. You see things that they don't and that's where the frustration lies, but they are there to do a job and I have no issues with the way they officiated. We needed to be a bit smarter in how we defended lineout drives.

“It is something we need to look at in the next week because we have Rams coming here next.”