Sport Cov players warned against complacency

COVENTRY Rugby’s head coach Nick Walshe has warned against complacency after Saturday’s convincing win over previously unbeaten Blackheath.

Cov made it four wins from four in National League One with a 37-10 victory at Butts Park Arena, but Walshe says another step-up in performance will be needed this weekend to get the right result at Esher.

“It was a good performance, but I think there is still a lot we can work on,” he said. “At times we were a little bit inaccurate and we probably could have had a couple more scores, so we need to keep working on that accuracy and really being able to kill teams off.

“Generally I was pretty pleased. It was a big, physical game which I don’t think we were ever in danger of losing, but obviously as a coach I’m always striving for the boys to get better and better, and not rest on their laurels.”

“Blackheath traditionally start well. We knew that was going to be the case and we expect all teams to do that against us, and I thought when we scored in the first few minutes it would settle us down.

“But they got a rather lucky try – we didn’t deal with a high kick particularly well, but the ball could have gone anywhere – and it got them straight back into it and got their tails up. They then got a penalty and it was frustrating because I did feel we were a little bit second best just with the intensity over the first 20 minutes.

“But after we weathered that bit of a storm we really pushed on and showed what we’re all about.

“We work hard on our analysis and making sure we are prepared for games, and as much as we could we executed what we had talked about in the week, so that was pleasing.

“I just think it’s a measure of where we’ve got to that even though we’ve beaten Blackheath 37-10, I think we could and probably should have had more.”

Walshe added: “We still need to improve to go down to Esher and win. It hasn’t been a good ground for us over the last few years.

“They didn’t have a particularly good result at the weekend, but they beat Rosslyn Park very convincingly at home two weeks ago and their home form is strong.

“It is going to be a massive game for us and we’ve got to make sure we step up, because we could easily get it wrong and I don’t think you can afford to slip up too often this season. We have to be massively focused for the weekend and go over where we need to get better.”

WINGER Kwaku Asiedu claimed a hat-trick of tries as Coventry Development opened their Zoo Sports Shield account in some style with a 52-19 win over Blackheath Heathens in a curtain-raiser to Saturday’s feature game.