Moseley Oak 19 Aston Old Edwardians 8

Aston took a strong team to play a game on the main Moseley pitch which was important for both teams. Moseley Oak are promotion contenders and their commitment would be solid. The match was played in continuous rain and with a biting wind which Aston had the benefit of for the first period.

Tom McNamee opened the scoring for Aston after five minutes with a beautifully struck penalty from 35 metres. Oak, for their part, began to demonstrate that they had both a scrum and an effective line out and were no slouches in the loose as they gave Aston little time on the ball and always presented a well organised line of defence.

Nevertheless, Aston gave away only crumbs and defended vigorously so that Oak were unable to put points on the board for all their efficiency. They got close to a try but a tremendous tackle from Conah Davies saw them off. Resuming their territorial advantage Oak continued to press and showed good form in driving the line out. They made the one clean line break of the half which Aston recovered well from but Martin Franklin was yellow carded and was out of the game for the rest of the half.

Though Aston had done a great deal of the attacking in the first half they were not to keep their goal line intact before the whistle and they conceded a try wide out on the left. Oak drove a scrum against Aston's seven forwards. They made ground before the referee awarded them a penalty which they took quickly and got their reward.

After leading for thirty minutes Aston went into the break a couple of points down but they made a strong restart and had some territory for a while. With the wind on their backs and good kickers, however, Oak soon were in the Aston 22. Their offloading was impressive but there were also many handling errors commited. They got a penalty and kicked it into the corner and, as Aston knew they would, went for the drive. This was irrepressible and Aston conceded the try which was easily converted.

The visitors were undaunted and skilfully made their way back upfield winning two penalties in quick succession. These enabled them to maintain pressure on Oak and they launched an attack to their opponents' goal line, conceding a knock on. The scrum took place five metres out and, though Oak had no trouble in getting their own ball, the scrum half was caught and a frenzied melee ensued during which Conah Davies was able to ground the ball for a much deserved try. Aston could not convert and play resumed with an Oak rally in which they had the last word with a well made try when their left winger appeared in the line at speed and was able to break two tackles to cross near the posts leaving an easy conversion.

Aston were good value in defence and attack and produced yet another strong tackling show and, good as Oak were, they might consider the score at 19-8 flattered them a little.

Match report by Brian Kelly