Moseley go back to basics
MOSELEY will return from their weekend off refreshed for their survival battle in National One.
Saturday sees the visit of full-time Exeter to Billesley Common and if there were bonus points for optimism coach Ian Smith would have already earned enough to lift his side above third-bottom Otley.
He is a great believer that rugby is a relatively simple game and if you get the basics right then you are in with a chance.
Get them wrong - and punishment is swift.
With a week without a game Smith has had a chance to concentrate on basics. He said: "We have been trying to keep it fresh and have been going over some accuracy issues. We have simplified a few things.
"We always knew it was going to be incredibly tough. But I think as a group we have kept our belief and our positive attitude, which always gives you a chance.
"We know every game that if we get our disciplines right and our performance right we can get a return. We have shown that when we haven't got things right we have paid the penalty.
"This is not a very forgiving league. You can get away with things in the next division down."
Exeter had a 43-3 victory over Lydney in the quarter-finals of the EDF National Trophy last weekend but anything less would have been a major embarrassment against a team from National Three South.
Smith knows it will be a tough match but said: "We have to make sure we get stuck into these boys and keep our discipline.
"We did fairly well against Leeds (lost 29-6) but not well enough. We are looking to build on that."
Moseley second-row Richard Stott returned from a long-term knee injury in last night's A-team game at Loughborough Students while the knee injury suffered by back-row Mark Evans is much less serious than first thought and he could be back in three weeks.
