Mud, Mud, Glorious mud

Mossley Hill

What a horrible day for rugby. Snow, wind, mud and very poor pitch quality, everything but the kitchen sink would be thrown at The Mavs this afternoon. Even before kick off we had a lot to deal with today.
Our advantage however was the team we turned up with we turned up in high spirit with a great bunch of lads (only 15 of us in total!). The players that could be bothered getting out of bed for this ice cold game. Rather disappointingly we were let down again by no shows at the game, a point which as a manager, the Gaffer is keen to address (more if that later).

1st half kicked off with the mavs on the back foot and great defence. We hit hard and tackled like pros! Questionable decisions from the ref (who in the past has been really good!) pinned us back and with no fault of our own Mossley Hill went 5 nil up. Same story really for much of the 1 st half. Great tackling and great commitment from all the mavs. Massive tackles from Nail, wellsey and Hastey kept us in the game. The next bit was penned by our indomitable captain and as such the Gaffer decided to allow for a bit of self love from the skipper “As a scrum half you don’t expect to be in every ruck, every maul and part of every hit but this was the kind of game you needed to show your aggression and leadership”. Positional play cost us the second try from a driving maul from Hill. 10-0 half time.

2nd half kicked off and again the attack form Mossley Hill was good but we stud our ground with some great defence. Hill has a penalty on our 10. with some strange Tarzanesque antics from one of their players the guy who took the ball got wiplash from the double hit from nail and Andy ! Fair to say he stayed down for a while (more self loving) A knock on from our turn over seen us having a scrum on our 10. 4 changes from Hill’s side got the mavs thinking. Big scrum and their number 8 picks up but to no surprise another (which was the last hit of the game!) from nail saw the dislocation of his ankle. Straight away the 2 captains called it a day as the protection of players is the most important part of the game.
Questions need to be asked though about the playability of the pitch and although Mossley Hill claim to have never cried a game off in 10 years, today should have been the exception. Looking at the injuries sustained by both teams was it really worth the risk. We have seen through the tragedies at Birkenhead Park of Billy Woof what can potentially happen even with apparently simple dislocations. Clubs have a responsibility to both teams in relation th playing conditions and when games are postponed due to weather conditions its not because we want to maintain the appearance of the pitch or that we are scared of the opposition it’s due to none reason and one reason alone, player safety. I am hoping a valuable lesson was learnt by the Hill management team, and our best wishes should be passed onto both the lad at 8 and the other injured players from today.
This was the same pitch, same position and same scrappy game Tim ended his career! We wish the Number 8 a full recovery.

All in all I think with the capability we had in the team it would of been a different game with a decent pitch. Today was not a good day for either side but with the relationship we have with Mossley Hill I decided to give hem the points. As I said earlier we were let down somewhat today by no shows from players who said they were available, please guys were not going to take it personally if you’re not available, but please maintain contact, avoid ghosting and ignoring text messages and phone calls. The managers and skipper have difficult enough jobs without players creating more difficulties that there needs to be. Stay positive, stay in contact and Stay a Maverick. No man of the match today due to game premature conclusion but noticeable contributions from Niall, Hastey and Chris, with again special mention of the defensive play witnessed during today’s game.
In relation to the quality of the match reports, please rest assured normal service will be resumed next week at the return of the Gaffer from his mid-season three week shopping trip to all points North, South, East and West.
Away at our good friends and allies Old Parks next week with a post match curry and last game before Christmas. So let’s celebrate all the great achievements from the first half of the season and move onwards and upwards.

Semel a Mavericus, Semper a Mavericus

The Gaffer