Nottingham 62

Moseley 20

There were times during this abomination when I actually wondered whether I was hallucinating.

That the same side, less one player, which put Bristol to the sword just a few weeks ago should have their pants pulled down and be so comprehensively spanked, seemed to defy reason.

All I can say is that Greg King must be some player if his presence against Bristol and his absence here produce such contrasting collective performances because the tone of the two displays appeared to belong to two different voices.

Snarling defiance against Bristol, flaccid acceptance at Meadow Lane. Moseley were sliced, diced and tossed into a stew. Or perhaps a pickle would be a more accurate, or maybe an Eton Mess or possibly even mincemeat. Chacon a son gout, as the French would say.

Clearly tackling was not to Moseley's taste as they leaked eight tries, three in the first half, five in the second, seven of which came through the backs. The Red and Black pack has had its critics this season but for once they can turn around and ask a few questions.

Not too many, you understand. While the scrum was much better than it had been when the sides met at Billesley Common in the second game of the season, their lineout was much more of a lottery than the model of consistency of recent weeks.

And it wasn't always the backs' fault Moseley conceded quite so many turnovers. Moseley were done like a kipper at the breakdown and for that everyone must share the blame.

Failure to protect their own ball and slow down Nottingham's meant that more often than not the classy home threequarters were running at a defensive line with all the straightness of a dog's back leg. A broken one at that.

Which meant that someone of the quality of former England, Wasps, Leicester and Biarritz centre Ayoola Erinle was going to have a field day - and so he did.

The line he picked for the Green and Whites' second try, which took him 50m untouched on first phase was a thing of beauty, reminiscent in many ways to those which Josh Drauniniu ran when London Welsh put ten tries on Moseley last year.

Michael Holford, the only forward to gatecrash the party on a day of 11 tries, grabbed the first and then Erinle, Mike Penn, James Arlidge, Charlie Hayter, Juan Pablo Socino, Joe Cobden and Andrew Savage all found a way through the parting waters.

It is only fair to commend Moseley's Brad Hunt for his hat-trick, a feat that suggests Nottingham were not the Green Machine the scoreline portrays them as. Three smart finishes brought the Kiwi's total to five.

Which brings us next to Mose's tendency to have at least one nightmare a season. In the previous campaign it was that match against the Exiles when Drauniniu grabbed four and Mose were mentally shell-shocked.

The year before than Cornish Pirates racked up 57, twelve months after Exeter had put 70 on a second string side. In 2007 Northampton and Bedford both passed the 60-point mark. We are not in uncharted territory.

Not always but as a rule those humpings tended to come in the early weeks of a season, when combinations were being forged and variables eliminated. Worryingly this XV is basically the one Kevin Maggs will take to war with him when the real action starts in the spring.

That is not to say they are any worse off than in previous years, just that when Moseley choose to turn rugby into a non-contact sport they had better pick their opponents wisely.

NOTTINGHAM: Savage; Cobden, Erinle (Hayter 50), Socino, Penn; Arlidge, Jones (Barnham 50); Parr (Prescott 63), Duffey (Taylor 66), Holford (Shields 69), Hammond, Rouse (Morley 65), Kalafamoni (Eggleshaw 60), Wilson, Shaw

MOSELEY: Carter (Davies 62); Robinson (De La Harpe 60), Adams, Reay (MacBurnie 27), Hunt; Thomas O, Glynn; Warren, Caves (Thomas C 66), Voisey (ODonnell 55), Lyons (Spivey 58), Sanderson, Mason, Pennycook, Ellery (Maltman 40).

Referee: Dean Richards (RFU)