Sport Cov are in great Nick, says coach
HEAD coach Nick Walshe believes Coventry are in good shape approaching the first of their preseason games at Leicester Lions on Thursday.
After six weeks of intense training, the players have enjoyed a week off to recharge batteries before returning yesterday to begin the countdown to the start of their National League One campaign at Hull Ionians on September 2.
“We are definitely where I want us to be and maybe a little bit further forward,” said Walshe, a former England Under-20s World Cupwinning coach.
“The boys have trained really hard, their attitude has been fantastic, and I think we’ve made good strides.
“The players came back from their end-of-season break in good shape, which is excellent because it means you can move forward quickly, and the new boys have all integrated well from day one.
“You don’t want to get too over-confident at this stage and get ahead of yourself, but you can only go on what you’ve seen and I’m very pleased with where we’re at.”
After the Leicester Lions game, Cov are away at Nuneaton next Wednesday before travelling to Championship side Jersey Reds on August 12 and then finishing off with home double-headers against Sale FC and Broadstreet (August 19) and Rotherham Titans and Newbold (August 26). “Going to Hull Ionians on the first day of the league season is a massive start for us,” said Walshe. “They played really well towards the end of last season and it is a difficult place to go to. “We’ve got some great challenges in our pre-season games to get us ready. “We start with a couple of midweekers which allow us to get some proper contact work in against good opposition, and then Jersey is a huge game against quality opposition a league above us – it’s what we want, to see where we are and what we need to work on.
“Then we have potentially easier games against teams a bit below us, which again works well, but we will not take anything for granted and will work extremely hard for them.
“We finish with Rotherham Titans at home, which will be another good test against higher opposition and a marker for us. It’s not to compare and see if we are good enough for the Championship, but to see what progress we’ve made and what we really need to focus on going into Hull.
“It’s a good set of games and we should be reasonably match-fit and hardened by the Hull game.”
While emphasis in the early weeks of training centred on fitness and conditioning, Walshe was keen to work on the rugby side of things from the off.
“From day one I’ve wanted to get all our structures and our calls in place, to learn and make sure we get something out of every session.
“We try to train as we want to play, with tempo, being physical and in people’s faces.
“What’s really nice is that we’ve got good competition in all positions this year and selection will be tough.
“I could pick a first team now, but would it be the same team in five weeks’ time? Probably not, so I’m completely open about it and it’s a clean slate.
“There are 20 spots to fill each week and we’ll go on form – we have to because of the squad we’ve got.”
Season ticket sales for Cov’s 15 home league games at Butts Park Arena are currently around 30 per cent up on the figure from the end of last season. These are available through the club office and also allow free admission to the home pre-season games.
We are definitely where I want us to be and maybe a little bit further forward. The boys have trained really hard.