Cov’s bold bid for glory ends in narrow defeat
COVENTRY’S attempt to deny Championship winners Ealing Trailfinders a third consecutive Championship Cup came up just short after a heroically brave battle in the warm May sunshine on the 4G pitch in West London.
Defensively, they were outstanding, stopping the forwards, ruining line-outs and scrums and ensuring the dangerous Reuben Bird-tulloch was kept mainly in check.
It has to be said, for a showcase match, this was not a great advertisement. In fact, to put it mildly, it was awful.
Both teams had plenty of practice in using their penalty set plays as the referee awarded 40 penalties - 22 to Ealing, 18 to Coventry. Amazingly, there was not a single card shown, and pretty much every offence was of the technical sort.
Trailfinders took the lead in the fifth minute when a scrum offence by Coventry was punished by the boot of Steven Shingler from 30 metres out.
Two minutes later Ealing lost the ball in Coventry territory. It was kicked forward and gathered by Josh Barton, who was celebrating his try soon after he crossed the 22. From in front of the posts, Tony Fenner made it 7–3.
Coventry nearly extended their lead but Senitiki Nayalo’s pass to an unmarked Robert Stevenson was ruled forward and the ball rolled into touch. The lead was reduced to a single point after 23 minutes after a hand in the ruck gave Shingler another penalty and he made no mistake.
Coventry thought they had scored a second try when they stole line-out ball but the referee ruled there was a crossing offence in the build-up to the score. Two minutes before half-time though, Ealing were penalised and Fenner took the three points on offer.
The Coventry fly-half slotted over another kick three minutes after the resumption before Shingler responded with a huge kick of his own.
Three penalties in quick succession led to Ealing’s try after 62 minutes. Running the ball from ten metres out, the Coventry line was finally breached by Matt Gordon with Shingler kicking the conversion.
Prop Phil Boulton’s great career came to an end as he was replaced by Jake Bridges but it was the home side who added to the scoreline late on when Craig Willis, Shingler’s replacement, stretched to lead to six points.
Coventry wouldn’t go away, knowing a converted try might just bring glory, but barely a possession went through more than four phases before the referee’s arm was again outstretched in the award of a penalty.
Coventry head coach Alex Rae said: “I am really proud of the lads’ efforts. I couldn’t have asked for more from them. It was a great day out for the club and our fans were magnificent in their support for the team.
“Very often cup finals aren’t freeflowing and this was the case today. The second half was particularly disappointing. We showed a lot of grit and heart, but we just couldn’t get going. The two tries we had ruled out were disappointing.”
COVENTRY: Brown, Stevenson, Forsyth, Knox, Martin, Fenner, Barton; Trinder, Poole, Boulton, Tyas, Peters, Nayalo, Bainbridge, Burrows. Replacements: Ma’asi, Jeannot, Thomas, Bridges, Betteridge, Stanton, Ogden, Asplandrobinson.