Rae proud he’s building a team for the future
COVENTRY born and bred Alex Rae is flourishing in his first full season in charge of his boyhood club, with his side catching the attention of the masses after beating reigning champions Ealing Trailfinders away from home last weekend.
Former forwards coach Rae took over as interim boss following Rowland Winter’s dismissal halfway through last season and after guiding his side to the Championship Cup final, the former lock was handed the keys to Butts Park on a permanent basis.
He said: “I’m really enjoying it, we’ve got a really good group of players and staff. Everyone’s aligned and pushing in the same direction, so it makes the role enjoyable. This is where I’ve aimed to be and the direction I wanted to go in, so it’s been really enjoyable and you’re learning constantly. You make mistakes, you learn from them and hopefully get better. I’m surrounded by good people, which of course helps.”
Coventry blew the Championship title race wide open with their 2219 triumph and whilst the result surprised most, Rae reveals his side had full confidence going into the fixture.
He said: “It’s a weird one, we don’t want this small club mentality where everyone’s celebrating the win like it’s massive. Within the building we expected that to happen. People outside may not have expected it but you only have to look at our performances; other than Hartpury where we slipped up after scoring six tries, we threw a lead away against Jersey when leading with five minutes to go but other than that the platform was there to beat Ealing as we’ve been constantly building.
“We’re heading in the right direction and the pleasing thing was we had five players who didn’t start against Jersey come in for the Ealing win which shows how much our squad has come on as a group.”
As the division enters a mid-season break due to the Championship Cup, third place Coventry trail leaders Ealing by 15 points with a game in hand, while Jersey Reds are now hot on the heels of the champions, just a point off top spot.
Rae, below, said: “It’s such a tough league, the results are hard to predict week in week out but we’re in a really good place as a group as the lads want to better themselves by working hard. We’re in a nice spot and when we enter the next round of league fixtures, we should have a healthy squad to pick from.”
Coventry recruited numerous players before the start of the season, with the likes of Patrick Pellegrini, Jimmy Martin and Will Talbot-Davies adding stardust to a formidable backline but Rae feels the acquisition of former Bath and Worcester scrum-half Will Chudley is instrumental to their success.
He said: “Signing a player who has played over 170 Premiership games is huge. His professionalism and the level of rugby he can play at has really enhanced the group, so that was a massive bit of business being able to sign and keep him.”
Coventry’s current injury problems mean they are down to the bare bones in the forwards with Rae having no choice but to operate with only four forwards on his bench yesterday though they were still strong enough to beat Doncaster 42-12.
He added: “We’re a bit banged up off the back of the Ealing game which took a lot out of us. We haven’t got any forwards left. The tournament is good for some people as certain players haven’t had much rugby and will have the opportunity to push their case and give me selection headaches which is only good for the squad overall.”