We should have been out of sight says Rae

COVENTRY held off a battling Bedford side to claim the points in this scintillating Championship Cup tie.

Four first-half tries took them clear at the break only for the Blues to hit back in the second period with Coventry head coach Alex Rae admitting his side had failed to keep to their plan.

He said: “We made that a lot harder than it should have been. All credit to Bedford, we know the way they like to play the game and we got pulled into their style of rugby towards the end although we should have been out of sight by then.

“We’ve scored five tries again and it’s another five points at home but the boys are really disappointed – that was a lot closer than it should have been.

“We know that when we do our things right then teams are struggling to live with us but we got sucked into a different game in the second half and that was our own downfall.”

Coventry dominated the early stages and hooker Suva Ma’asi twice went over in the opening 20 minutes.

His first followed good work by his pack that created the opportunity to dive in on nine minutes with the second coming after centre Lucas Titherington had punctured the Bedford line.

Excellent Bedford scrum-half Jake Garside capped a fine move to close the gap on the half hour before home skipper Tom Ball went over in the corner with the last play of the half moments after visiting coach Sean McCarthy had been sent off for something he said.

The Blues took the game to Coventry in the

second period and Garside claimed his second try when he gathered a chip ahead from back rower Kieran Curran.

But when the home side were awarded a penalty try just before the hour, coupled with a yellow card for replacement back row Tuidriva Uru for pulling down a maul, the gap was back up to 21 points.

The visitors continued to press though and two tries in the space of six minutes midway through the half made for a nervy ending for the Coventry fans.

Replacement prop Jack Hughes crashed over the line for his side’s third try of the game before a sweet sweeping move was finished off by another acrobatic effort from winger Sean French.

Will Maisey and Louis Grimoldby kicked a conversion apiece for the visitors while Evan Mitchell nailed three of his kicks for the hosts.