Archers slain – but Rae calls on Cov to be much more ruthless
TOUGH taskmaster Alex Rae found plenty to be pleased about but also a few areas needing improvement in the wake of Coventry Rugby’s 52-26 win at Nottingham.
Cov’s outstanding recent run of form has seen them record six consecutive wins including the big scalps of league leaders Ealing and ambitious Doncaster.
Since then the blue-and-whites almost passed the half-century mark at Hartpury before putting 60-plus points on Cambridge and now 52 on old rivals Nottingham.
But their boss believes they should have been more ruthless in the second half at Lady Bay after doing the hard yards to bank a try bonus point and build a substantial lead against the Archers playing into the wind before the break.
“We made a really good start to the game and I thought our scrum laid the foundations for a really good first-half performance from us,” Cov’s head coach said.
“The penalties we won there plus our driving game won us plenty of territory playing into the wind and in truth we weren’t stretched too far so I’m really happy with that.
“But then in the second half it almost felt like the game was too
easy for us at times and we lost concentration a little. It’s clearly an area for us to work on as when we get in this situation and we’re well ahead on the scoreboard we need to find a way to stay focused on the game.
“Even though we spoke at halftime about keeping our foot on their throat, we clearly did ease off a bit at times.”
Popular hooker Suva Ma’asi was given a rare opportunity to start on the occasion of his 50th Coventry appearance but due to a finger injury lasted only 25 minutes.
This brought in-form club captain Jordon Poole into the fray and he proceeded to claim his eleventh try of a remarkable season within seconds of arriving on the pitch.
Rae acknowledged Ma’asi’s achievement before going on to pay tribute to his skipper.
“Many congratulations to Suva on reaching his 50th appearance – he’s a big part of our squad and has worked hard over the years to get to that landmark,” he said.
“He was unlucky to get a finger dislocation in the first half and doubly so when it went back in on the bench pretty much immediately after we subbed him off.
“But that allowed Pooley to make another huge contribution. I thought his collision work both in attack and defence was fantastic and he again provided some really good leadership alongside Toby Trinder.”
Trialist scrum-half Toby Venner took another chance to impress with
Even though we spoke at half-time about keeping our foot on their throat, we clearly did ease off a bit at times.
Alex Rae
both hands by darting over for Cov’s seventh try with 11 minutes remaining. Rae acknowledged that the replacement No.9, who scored a hat-trick as a starter against Cambridge seven days earlier, has a natural eye for a gap and plenty of pace to then get him through it. “Toby is an out-and-out tryscorer,”
he said. “Good scrum-halves follow the ball and he is always around the tackle area looking for an offload and seeking space.
“In the last few games he’s appeared in – that have involved Coventry – he’s scored two tries against us and four for us and that doesn’t happen by accident.”
Tickets for Coventry’s next home game against Bedford on Saturday are available from: https://www. coventryrugby.co.uk/tickets/matchday-tickets/