Moseley will respect rugby minnows Bridgwater in EDF Trophy clash

Feb 6 2009 by Brian Dick, Birmingham Mail

IAN Smith need only direct his players’ attention to the last round of the cup if they need a reminder about the difficulties of facing lower-league opposition.

Moseley do exactly that this weekend when they travel to minnows Bridgwater & Albion in the fifth round of the EDF Energy National Trophy, for a game they will be very short-odds favourites to win.

Not only are they on the brink of their best run in knockout competition for 11 years – a quarter-final place beckoning with victory at College Way – they are also in with a shout of their highest league finish since 2000.

Meanwhile, the Somerset outfit have lost more games than they have won in National Three South and managed to beat Midlands One side Broadstreet by a mere point in the last round.

But the head coach sees danger around every corner and knows tomorrow’s encounter comes with no guarantees, other than it will be a difficult match.

“The last round is a tremendous reference point for us,” the head coach said. “We will have to look back at the way we managed the game against Henley.”

Although Mose won quite convincingly in the end, it was only in the final quarter that they managed to cut free and open up a 34-6 scoreline with three late tries.

“That should spur on our players to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes again,’’ said Smith. “There is always danger in every game, especially cup rugby, because it’s so final. We will have to pay them the respect they are due by preparing properly and playing to our best.”

Which is not something they did in their last match – a 44-17 battering at Nottingham in which they leaked four tries inside the opening 24 minutes.

“That was a very lacklustre performance in terms of physicality,” Smith said. “There were some things going on that we should have addressed ourselves and we’ll work on that and make sure we put it into action on Saturday.”

With Mose’s playing resources stretched by international call-ups, James Rodwell, Dan Norton, Charlie Sharples and Henry Trinder having all missed recent games, Smith will give the players who struggled at Meadow Lane another chance to impress.