British & Irish Cup: London Welsh 21 Moseley 24
Anyone who doubts rugby is a game played between the ears every bit as much as it is played between four white lines and two sets of sticks should have been at Old Deer Park on Saturday.
Here were two sides who had last faced each other two months ago and the outcome could not have been more different. London Welsh rolled up and Billesley Common and over a Moseley team so palsied in every way the 68-22 scoreline flattered them.
How could Moseley have been so bad and still scored three tries?
Yet the boot was very much on the other foot in west London, indeed it was the expensively assembled hosts who tackled like new-born mice and retained possession as though their hands had not so much been bandaged as amputated.
It was quite remarkable turnaround, after all 30 of the men who played in that first match were present in this second, yet this time the line-breakers were mostly clad in Red and Black and it was the Moseley set-piece who wrought havoc.
And while the visitors could not claim to have been perfect defensively, Liam Gibson and Ben Stevenson both found relatively straightforward routes across the Mose line, it was Welsh's midfield that resembled a rusty colander.
So what unfathomable reasons can cause such a reversal in fortunes? Basically the fact Moseley were enjoying a release from their Championship siege.
Their league campaign has been a tortuous affair and has lurched from one disaster to the next, albeit with a recent upturn in performances.
This was the British & Irish Cup, a competition that comes in at No. 101 in Moseley's list of Top Hundred Priorities. For once Ian Smith's players could accept their coach's invitation to play without fear and did just that.
If they had lost, it wouldn't have mattered but they dared to win, something they have not been able to do in league competition.
It also helped that Smith selected players who were unaffected by the recent malaise. Bevon Armitage continued in his official role as Breath of Fresh Air, while Ryan De La Harpe sparkled and inspired with the oxygen of first team football.
Ed Styles seems to have rediscovered some of the elan that made him such a popular recruit in the summer and Andy Borgen, clearly fit after yet another injury blighted season, applied himself superbly at inside centre.
In the forwards Chevvy Pennycook and Shaun Knight battered away at the Londoners with great gusto and it was almost as if their opponents were taken by surprise.
Because make no mistake, Moseley deserved this victory but the real test will be whether they can recreate such psycological energy when the stakes are higher since no one will thank them for winning the cup and going down.
WELSH: Sampson; Gibson (Lewis R 58), Lewis J (Shabbo 64), Thomas A, Drauniniu; Lennard, Stevenson (Claassens 72); Pittman, Nelson (Ma'asi 58), Ward (Holford 72), Powell, Corker (Purdy 58), Williams D, Hills (Taione 18), Fisher
MOSELEY: Carter (Thomas O 40); Bressington, Armitage, Borgen, Styles; Davies (Reay 52), De La Harpe; Voisey (Williams N 52), Caves, Knight, Spivey, Stott (Evans 52), Maltman (Mason 52), Pons, Pennycook. Replacements: Sigley, Warner
Referee: Ross Campbell (RFU)
