Brian Dick: Moseley and Bees provide a season's end to make a hack younger

Apr 30 2009 by Brian Dick, Birmingham Post

I am always conscious of the fact I should not moan about my job too much. Even on a rain-lashed, wind-bashed December afternoon up on Chillesley Common, I try to remind myself I am not exactly stuck down the pits.

But I confess I had been looking forward to this season ending since January, when the temperatures plummeted and so did the standard of rugby on offer in the area. With each game that was cancelled all I could think was ‘That’s another one that needs previewing for a second time.’

Then the oval world rotated about its axis. In the last two weekends I have seen both league and cups lifted and when Birmingham & Solihull wing Simon Hunt says he doesn’t want the campaign to ever end, I suddenly understand how he feels.

While my change of heart has – like Hunt’s – nothing to do with try-scoring records, it has everything to do with the fact Midlands rugby has finally brought some happiness to the region.

Suddenly everyone wants to talk and most of them have something interesting to say. The karma is intoxicating.

Simply put it was a joy and privilege to be at Twickenham last Saturday week and then again at Sharmans Cross Road seven days later.

For those who watch Central News and listen to BRMB, who wouldn’t have heard or seen a thing, Moseley beat Leeds Carnegie at Twickenham on April 18 and in doing so not only overcame a financial disparity of £2.5m between the finalists but also brought happiness to a club where there has been precious little for more than a decade.

It was an outstanding achievement and one that can be thoroughly enjoyed now the club is sure of its place in next season’s 12-team Championship. So downcast had my outlook become I had genuine fears that would not be the case.

And a few miles along the A4040 Hunt’s club also secured their spot in the second tier with a victory over Redruth that gave them the National Two title.

I can’t believe I’m writing this – I certainly never have before – but rugby union in Birmingham is, for the short term at least, on the up.

That might come to an end if Moseley can’t recruit the quality of player necessary to make an impact and ensure a top-eight finish next term.

My concern is that with Dan Norton and Jack Adams no longer at Gloucester and therefore no longer available through dual registration and the ascent of Charlie Sharples and Henry Trinder in the Kingsholm first-team squad, the quality of youngster available this season may not be as high next.

No doubt there are tonnes more unpolished diamonds in the Cherry and White academy but the existing crop have flourished in this campaign because of, at times quite painful, exposure last.

The situation could be even more uncertain for Bees whose medium-term future seems to lie in the hands of Solihull council’s planning officials.

Consent to build on Sharmans Cross Road will set in motion a sequence of events that are genuinely exciting for the club, the borough, indeed the whole region. Let’s hope that consent is forthcoming.

While those are my fears let us luxuriate awhile in both club’s recent successes and give credit to the men who have overseen them.

Ian Smith may not be every journalists dream in terms of quotes, let’s say he is not a man who loves a soundbite, but one cannot deny his stewardship this term has seen the Moseley team take a leap forward.

They have distanced themselves from the clubs at the bottom, sides like Sedgley Park and Otley against whom they have had some Titanic recent battles but against whom they now win with consumate ease.

And they have also eaten considerably into the advantage of the full-timers above them. They are the only team in the division to have beaten both Exeter and Leeds and have produced winning positions against Bedford, Nottingham, Doncaster, Cornish Pirates and London Welsh. Perhaps next season they will take them.

Smith has done that by recognising that the player-sharing arrangement with Gloucester did not function satisfactorily in its first year. To that end he contracted his pack, the men who would decide whether Moseley win, and has been happy to rotate people in the positions that decide by how much. He should also be applauded for sticking with Tristan Roberts at fly half when the 22-year-old had a nightmare at Esher. Not many of us shared that faith.

And down at Sharmans Cross Russell Earnshaw has expedited a tremendous turnaround in on-field fortunes.

Suffice to say the side that he put together last summer and which roared its way out of National One would slaughter the one he inherited and fell out of it 12 months ago.

It has been interesting watching Earnshaw learn on the job. I was always uncomfortable with the pre-season ‘We’ll not lose a game’ routine and so it came to pass. That theory lasted all of 80 minutes and since Redruth beat them on opening day slip ups at Wharfedale and at home to Tynedale have brought about a more measured public face and rather more respect towards opponents.

Bees have not dropped a league point since mid-December and have been promoted playing as expansive and ambitious a style of rugby as I have seen in the professional game. Will it serve them well next season? I don’t know but it clearly has this term and Hunt’s 100m score last weekend was a thing of beauty and breathtaking temerity.

So, having spent the last few months grumbling about this, that and the other, it is perhaps time the city’s two success stories were given formal congratulation.

I look forward to seeing both at a certain rain-lashed, wind-bashed venue in a few months’ time.