NATIONAL LEAGUE ONE: Moseley 22 Coventry 20
The locals really were spoiled; not one but two rare events came to pass after Moseley won at home for just the second time this season and did so on a sunny, warm and still February afternoon less typical of Windy Alley and more reminiscent of the Windward Islands.
In doing so, Ian Smith's men rose to the lofty heights of tenth place in National One, their highest position on rugby's pyramid at this stage of the campaign for very many years; if they win their game in hand, at home to Launceston, they will potentially move into the top half of the table.
That they did so against their most bitter rivals and with two debutants, as many returning medium-term absentees and without the cream of their Gloucester contingent, must be hugely gratifying for the head coach.
"We struggled with continuity and it was always going to be difficult to put our stamp on the game the way we wanted to because of that," Smith said.
"At that stage, you have to acknowledge things are not going well, accept it and do what you can to get a result. We did that and that's very pleasing - particularly with so many changes.
"It was Henry Trinder's first game at anything like this level, Tommy Hayes was coming back to us and Nathan Williams and Adam Caves have not started for quite a few weeks."
Hayes' performance was exactly what was expected, even though the outside half-cumfull back was playing in the unfamiliar position of outside centre.
The veteran, who played a crucial part in Moseley staying up last term, made his tackles, took most of the right options and played a part in Nathan Bressington's game-winning try.
Eighteen-year-old Trinder's contribution was even more decisive. His scintillating 56th-minute counter attack through midfield cracked the Coventry defence and allowed Hayes and Andy Binns to put Bressington over to establish a 22-12 lead.
For a youngster who has played his rugby in National Three with Cinderford for most of the season, it was hugely creditable; much more so than the horrendous first-half knock-on close to his own line.
But Moseley's true star was captain Neil Mason, who not only scored one of the best tries of his career, a stolen lineout, delicate pirouette and 30-yard scamper, but was a thorn in Coventry's side all afternoon.
If he produced a single try-saving tackle, he produced three while the only blot was a yellow card ten minutes from the end which came at a time when his team needed him most.
At the time of his removal, Moseley were ten points up but already a man down after referee Ashley Rowden sent off inside centre Gary Trueman for his part in a hugely entertaining bout of fisticuffs, one that owed as much to genuine pugilism as posturing and wrestling.
Local derbies wouldn't be such without a proper fight; the only surprise was that, in these days of loan deals and end-of-season player merry-go-rounds, anybody cared enough to throw a punch.
Coventry's Danny Hodge accompanied Trueman on his slightly comical trek to the changing rooms, shaking hands along the way. Rowden had a decent game but one wonders if his trigger finger was rather too quick in this instant.
Both men are likely to be suspended for a couple of weeks and that could further compound the visitors' selection problems.
They had the bare 22 for this match, though their decision to leave out Myles Dorrian and Donovan Sanders was purely self-inflicted and meant they had a bench consisting four front rowers, two scrum halves and a back who has barely played this season.
Brett Davey was forced to come in for Dorrian and though the player-coach acquitted himself well, it was his missed conversion, a minute into injury time, that cost Coventry the draw they probably deserved.
They were certainly the better side in the first half, yet they contrived to end up trailing 17-7 at the break.
The blue shirts laid siege to the home line for the first 20 minutes and crossed once when a midfield error by Ross McMillan was punished by Hodge, who crashed through Paul Arnold and over by the sticks.
He nearly bagged a second soon after from the scrum following Trinder's fumble but he was held up over the line by skippers present and past, Mason and Gareth Taylor.
By this stage, however, Cov hooker Chris Whitehead was missing his jumpers left, right and centre and one errant throw, snaffled by Taylor, led to the loss of three points as Neil Stenhouse accepted a straightforward penalty.
That was on the half-hour and four minutes later the fly half forced Kurt Johnson to concede a lineout in the corner. McMillan made amends by finding his target and burrowing over.
Then, five minutes after that, Whitehead boobed again as Mason took one of his throws between two defenders and under the posts. Stenhouse converted both and 17 points in nine minutes had effectively decided the outcome.
Scores from Laurie McGlone and a late one from Tom Slater sandwiched Bressington's fifth of the season but Coventry's earlier madness had left them with too much to do. Much to the satisfaction of the locals.
MOSELEY: Binns; Bressington, Hayes, Trueman, Trinder; Stenhouse, Taylor; N Williams (Buxton, 66), McMillan (Caves, 55), Sigley, Arnold, Stott, Mason, Atkinson (Bignell, 58), Rod-well. Replacements: Evans, D Williams, Lewis, Macdonald COVENTRY: Toft; Johnson, Cobden, Kirisome, Parry (Slater, 42); Davey, Jones; Maddocks (Rimmer 54), Whitehead, Brits, O Hodge, Nimmo, D Hodge, Clayton, McGlone. Replacements: Friswell, Dugard, Whitehall, Walls, McLean.
Referee: Ashley Rowden (RFU).
