With the majority of the game interrupted by the whistle of the official in this contest, the game never got going for the players and the spectators in attendance at Darlington Mowden Park RFC’s Northern Echo Arena HQ, on a gloomy day in the North East.

An abundance of scrums, reset scrums and scrummage incidents will be the only part of the game remembered from this encounter, which did little to enhance the view that National League One is the best advert for the English game.

The visitors’ reliance on their juggernaut pack was clear, but instead of playing the game at pace and negating a massive weight and height advantage, the home side engaged in an arm wrestle, which clearly is not their style of play.

So not much entertainment on show in this dour affair and the draw was just about what both teams deserved.

With Moseley languishing in the lower echelons in the league and DMPRFC hovering around mid-table, neither seemed prepared to try to win the game and much more had been anticipated, as the former had taken Old Elthamians down to the wire last weekend and the latter had beaten Rosslyn Park away from home for the first time ever.

Moseley prop Jay TYACK was the first to make an impression on the game, when he was sin-binned for a ruck infringement after only thirteen minutes, forcing the visitors to re-shuffle their pack.

Five minutes later DMPRFC took advantage of the visitors reduction in numbers, when after an incisive break by home centre Callum MACKENZIE, the ball was fashioned across the line by scrum half Matt DUDMAN, finding Canadian International flanker Matt HEATON, who exploited a gap in the visitors defence for the touchdown, (5 – 0), converted from wide out by fly half Warren SEALS. (7 – 0)

Moseley battled hard and some excellent work at the ruck was undertaken on more than one occasion by their tireless flanker Joshua POOLE who robbed DMPRFC of the ball all day. In fact, POOLE was rewarded for his endeavours when scoring Moseley’s first try from close range (7 – 5), but the conversion was missed by fly half Sam HOLLINGSHEAD who hit the post and for whom further heartache was to follow later when presented with the last kick of the game.

As the game progressed towards the interval, it degenerated into a mess at every scrum, with DMPRFC adjudged to be the culprits, receiving more than their fair share of penalties awarded against them.

This culminated in a penalty try for Moseley on the stroke of oranges, as an attacking scrum from 5-metres was brought down by the DMPRFC pack and adjudged to have prevented the score. (7 – 12)

So the visitors took a slender lead into the changing rooms, with home supporters as frustrated as the home players with what had transpired.

A glimpse of the real DMPRFC emerged immediately as the game restarted, as for only the second time in the game, their superior pace in attack was evident, when Matt DUDMAN scored a good try after only three minutes of the restart (12 – 12) and with SEALS converted again from wideout, (14 – 12), DMPRFC were ahead again.

As proceedings continued, the game, as it had in the first half, began to take its toll on the big Moseley pack, who slowed down the game at every opportunity. Whether it be lineout formulation and the resulting infamous huddle or prior to a home scrum on the attack, when invariably a visiting front row would need some attention. In fact it appeared on occasions as though the physio had set off on to the pitch before the player had gone down, such was the propensity of physio intervention.

The game then settled back into the usual monotonous scrum debacle, which continued unabated for the remainder of the game. Onlookers may find it interesting to work out the inordinate length of time wasted during the whole game for each reset scrum to determine how many of the 80+ minutes was dedicated to that area of the game on the day.

Moseley, keeping the ball tight did gain some success in attack, however the home defence stood firm, repelling some decent attacks.

As the monotony of the game wore on, SEALS kicked a penalty to put DMPRFC a score ahead, (17 – 12), with three minutes of the game remaining.

Decisively, home winger Shaun McCARTNEY transgressed in the tackling of an opponent well inside the home 22-metre line and sent to ‘the cooler’.

As the game drew to a thankful close, Moseley gave it one more effort from the resulting penalty, kicking to the corner to go for the catch and drive. This pinned down the home side and when the maul failed, the game was then consumed, by a series of (you’ve guessed it !!) set scrums on the home line.

At this, time stood still, until the game progressed to 86+ minutes, before Moseley veteran No. 8 Jacques LE ROUX squeezed over the line for a much disputed try, not witnessed by the referee, but awarded by the referee’s assistant who missed the player knock on in the act of scoring, allowing Moseley to level the game.

It was all set up for the visitors to register an unlikely win against DMPRFC, only for HOLLINGSHEAD to miss the simplest of conversions, missing by another set of posts.

Neither side had deserved the win, with the draw being just about the right result.

A sour grapes story, maybe, but it was, what it was on a day which was a poor advert for National League One.

On a more positive note, the appearance, as replacements of both centre Ben FRANKLAND and No. 8 Ollie HODGSON after long term injury, augurs well for the remainder of the season for DMPRFC.

DMPRFC SQUAD

15. Christopher McTURK, 14. Rian HAMILTON (Ben FRANKLAND, 62), 13. Callum MACKENZIE, 12. Garry LAW, 11. Shaun McCARTNEY. 10. Warren SEALS, 1. Alfie BARRON, 2. Jordan POOLE (Jamie BLAMIRE, 48), 3. Ralph APPLEBY, 4. Jacob BRADY (Dave FISHER, 48), 5. Talite VAIOLETI (Oliver HODGSON, 62), 6. George STOKES, 7. Matthew HEATON, 8. Joe CRAGGS.

Replacements: Franco LAMANNA MIRANDA (not used)

Scoring:

Try: HEATON (18), DUDMAN (43)
Conversion: SEALS (19, 44)
Penalty: SEALS (77)
Drop Goal: None
Penalty Try: None
Yellow Card: McCARTNEY (79) (Foul Play)

BIRMINGHAM MOSELEY RFC SQUAD

15. Michael PENN (Aedan MALONEY, 70), 14. John DAVETANIVALU, 13. Oliver ALLSOPP, 12. Ravai FATIAKI, 11. Taraiasi WARA, 10. Samuel HOLLINGSWORTH, 9. Robert LEWIS, 1. Joseph WRAFTER, 2. Ryan ROACH (Adam CAVES, 75), 3. Jay TYACK (Tomas FIDLER, 30), 4. Chukwuma OSAZUWA, 5. Lewis BEAN, 6. Lawrence COWEN, 7. Joshua POOLE, 8. Jacques LE ROUX (Thomas FIDLER, 14)

Replacement: Christopher BRIGHTWELL (not used)

Scoring:

Try: POOLE (29), LE ROUX (80)
Conversion:
Penalty:
Drop Goal
Penalty Try: (40)
Yellow Card: Jay TYACK (13) (Foul Play)

Referee: Mr Jack Adams Lewars.
Referee’s Assistants: Mr Mark ROSE, Mr Garrick JASON
Attendance: 794
Player of the Match: George STOKES (DMPRFC)

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