Time to cut out the mistakes says Old Albanian’s boss
Sam Lunnon is wrapped up by the Birmingham Moseley defence. Picture: KARYN HADDON - Credit: Archant
Individual mistakes and four minutes of madness at the start of the second half were enough to condemn Old Albanian Rugby Club to a 38-19 defeat at home to Birmingham Moseley.
Dan Watt's break led to the opening try for Old Albanian against Birmingham Moseley. Picture: KARYN HADDON - Credit: Archant
The two sides had been locked together at 7-7 at half-time but Moseley then added 31 straight points before a late rally brought OAs to within touching distance of a four-try bonus point.
Sam Lunnon added two tries and Alex Post got the home scores with Dan Watt on target with two conversions.
Jono Midghall takes the hit from Birmingham Moseley's Rob Lewis. Picture: KARYN HADDON - Credit: Archant
But those individual mistakes are what head coach Gavin Hogg wants to see put right before the undefeated league leaders Darlington Mowden Park visit Woollams on Saturday.
He said: “We’d have some very positive conversations at half-time.
Jack Bradford in action for Old Albanian. Picture: KARYN HADDON - Credit: Archant
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“We felt that if we got the lion’s share of possession in the second half, they would begin to tire and we would cause them a few problems.
“But a few individual mistakes gave them a lift and back-to-back tries changed it very quickly and suddenly we’re chasing the game.
Jason Billows goes to ground as Jono Midghall and Jack Daly look on. Picture: KARYN HADDON - Credit: Archant
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“The disappointing thing is those last six minutes showed what we’re capable of when we play with pace and purpose.
“But there were a few honest conversations at the end and we need to take a hard look at ourselves and work out what went wrong at the start of the half.”
Tom Bednall drives forward for Old Albanian. Picture: KARYN HADDON - Credit: Archant
Moseley were clinical in attack and took advantage of the missed tackles and turnover gifts.
But OAs had their own moments of attacking flair where they broke the line and Hogg knows if they can pull everything together for a full 80 minutes, they will win more than they lose.
Sam Lunnon takes the congratulations after opening the scoring for Old Albanian. Picture: KARYN HADDON - Credit: Archant
“We’re at the stage where we’re five games in and we’ve got to start being a little bit harder on ourselves in terms of performance,” he said.
“We knew that September was going to be a marker to see where we are at and what we need to improve on.
“We now have to strive for a more complete performance.
“It’s a learning curve for me as well. I think the one thing that the new guys here and I are finding is at this level you get picked off very quickly if you make mistakes.
“We’ve got to adapt to that as a group. We’ll certainly get Tuesday and Thursday right in terms of preparation and we know we’ve really got to put in a strong home performance against Darlington.”
