Pershore 44 - Moseley Oaks 0
APR
A backlog of fixtures meant that this postponed match was played under
the floodlights, at the Droitwich ground on Wed 31 March. Pershores
recent run of fine performances continued, and allthough Moseley Oak
play week in, week out at the same level, they were simply outclassed
during this encounter. The game started at a frantic pace, with Pershore
trying to play an expansive game, sometimes with difficulty due to the
high wind, but at least they had set their stall early. With the
scrummage being in commanding form all night, the backs received plenty
of ball. With play spread wide at every opportunity, Moseleys defence
began to creak, and from a couple of quick rucks, Marcus Whyte picked
the right line, and at pace, to receive the pop pass and crash over. The
wide out conversion attempt was missed. Pershore soon began to dominate
possession, and were quickly rewarded for their vision, when fine
midfield passing released winger Steph Ellis, who wonderfully stepped
around the full back , and glide under the posts.Woodhouse converted.
Almost from the kick off that followed the forwards grasped control of
the ball, and powered forwards. When the time was right, the ball was
quickly sped along the line, for Ellis to step inside, and then outside
his winger, to score in the corner. Again the difficult conversion was
missed. With Moseley trying desperatly to kick out of their half, a
loose kick was gathered by Woodhouse, he straightened up his running,
timed his pass to perfection for Steph Ellis to complete a first half
hat trick. Pershore were now very much on the front foot, and quick ball
from a lineout enabled Matt Syphus to take it up the middle, the ball
was quickly recycled, and again timing his run well, Marcus Whyte hit
the ball at pace, and two defenders close to the line, had little chance
of stoppping him cross the whitewash, and for Woodhouse to convert. 29
to 0 at half time. To be fair to Moseley, they upped their performance
in the second half, when for 40 minutes they had been under the cosh.
They started to compete up front, especially around the fringes, but
their scrummage suffered, and Toby Grace dominated the lineout for
Pershore. Pershore continued their game plan of an expansive game, but
for twenty minutes a last pass was dropped, or not kept to hand, and a
few scoring opportunities was missed. However, with the set piece really
dominating for the last quarter, eventually 12 or 13 phases of play was
rewarded when a massive overlap was created, and captain Adrian Hanson
cut through the centre to touch down. The conversion was missed. A scrum
infringement enabled Will Woodhouse to kick a penalty to increase the
lead. On the stroke of full time, again tremendous supporting play, and
offloading in the tackle, gave veteran winger Matt Harwood some space to
power down the wing, brush off his winger, and touch down in the corner
to complete the nights scoring. The tricky conversion was missed. This
was a very good performance, by a team currently high in confidence, and
a great team spirit.
