Alex locks on to feelgood factor again
FORMER Northampton second row Alex Woolford has experienced a frustrating start to his second rugby life at Coventry – but things finally came good for him on Saturday.
After leaving Franklin’s Gardens for London Welsh in 2017, the 26-yearold Rugby School product was an unfortunate victim of the Exiles’ subsequent liquidation – after which a career in financial services beckoned.
When Cov boss Rowland Winter came calling in the autumn the lock forward was therefore delighted to get a second shot at professional rugby, only for a badly damaged toe to stall his comeback after only three games.
But now restored to full fitness, Woolford is staring to show his Premiership quality, as his man-of-the-match performance in last weekend’s win over Richmond underlined.
Woolford put in an eye-catching contribution with ball in hand on top of some solid defensive work and his usual consistent lineout effort, but despite finishing on the winning side he cut a frustrated figure following Cov’s patchy performance.
“It was a bit of a dogfight and ultimately, we are a bit disappointed as we had a good training week,” he said. “We got dragged into playing Richmond’s type of rugby – that’s no disrespect to them but we are a better team than we showed, but a win is a win and we’ll take it. We spoke all week about playing with tempo and in the early stages we certainly did that well. “We went through pretty much untouched from the first lineout we had, but then we maybe got a little bit complacent, took our foot off the gas, and didn’t really turn our pressure into points.” Woolford confirmed that the gusty wind blowing directly down the pitch impacted on both teams’ tactical approach. However, he felt that Coventry failed to adapt fully to the elements. “We’re all pretty disappointed with the outcome, but we have a chance to put that right now since we have a quick turnaround to play London Scottish on Friday,” he added.
We spoke all week about playing with tempo and in the early stages we certainly did that well. Alex Woolford