Rae eager for Cov to carry Cup form into next season
DESPITE coming up short in the final, Coventry interim head coach Alex Rae was pleased to give the club’s ‘loud and proud’ fans a day out in last weekend’s Championship Cup final and hopes to carry that momentum into next season.
Hundreds of the club’s loyal fans travelled down to Ealing to witness a rare final for their side and Rae said: “The fans were immense. They came down in big numbers and they were loud and proud.
“It was really nice to give them a good day out and something to cheer about because there hasn’t been that much to get excited about in the last six months or so.
“To finish like that, build the momentum, and build that connection with the fans was really pleasing.”
Coventry finished eighth in the Championship, and Rae made it clear from the off that he wanted a good cup run while numerous teams refused to take it seriously.
He said: “We set out from the start that we wanted to win the competition. I know a lot of people were discrediting the cup a bit, but you see the teams who finished strongly in it were the teams who finished towards the top of the table.
“We weren’t one of those teams, but I think we’ve shown our potential a bit and we’ve created a bit of momentum, which hopefully we can take on into pre-season. For us, the cup competition was great.”
Coventry beat Ampthill and Doncaster over two legs before beating Jersey 20-17 in the semi-final but came unstuck 19-13 to Ealing in the final.
Rae, who has taken the reins since Rowland Winter left the club, said:
“I’m disappointed with the result but happy with how we finished, and I thought we gave a decent account of ourselves as well.
“It was a scrappy game, there was something like 40 penalties between both teams so there wasn’t much flow in the game. Probably the big turning point came before the end of the second half when we had a try disallowed.”
Despite Coventry giving the competition their best efforts, Rae isn’t pleased overall with the cup and, like many, isn’t happy with it being tagged on at the end of the season.
He said: “It’s probably not ideal. I did like the twoleg format, that was quite good to be a part of. I think where the cup competition should be played is during the season, with the final being at the end.”
Rae is enjoying the step up from forwards coach to head coach and hopes for the club to be involved in more big finals going forward.
He said: “Anyone who’s got anything about them in sport would always tell you they want to be competing in big games and I’m no different.
“Hopefully the players who are going to be with us next year are no different. Losing that game hopefully gives them that taste for next time – we want to go that one step further.”
FORMER Coventry director of rugby Rowland Winter is joining the staff at St Joseph’s College, Ipswich.