Exeter 45 Coventry 8
By Tom Little
November 23 2008
Once again playing against a top two team, Coventry did not do themselves justice. A well drilled and organised Exeter side ran in 7 tries, admittedly 2 from blatant forward passes, but at no stage did Coventry have enough possession, in the right areas to pressurise the home side. Too many first up tackles were missed allowing the Exeter MOM Mark Fatialofa to carve holes in the Cov defence.
November 23 2008
Once again playing against a top two team, Coventry did not do themselves justice. A well drilled and organised Exeter side ran in 7 tries, admittedly 2 from blatant forward passes, but at no stage did Coventry have enough possession, in the right areas to pressurise the home side. Too many first up tackles were missed allowing the Exeter MOM Mark Fatialofa to carve holes in the Cov defence.
Coventry faced a cold wind in the first half, and with some heroic defending did well to restrict the home side to an interval lead of 19-3. The lineout and scrum struggled and most possession was in the wrong half, so no platform could be built.
The 2nd half saw an early introduction of McGlone, Burgess, Pearl and Brits, Cov did well to get more possession and kept Exeter out for the third quarter. The turning point came on 58 mins, following a McGlone surge which almost led to a try. A penalty was given away, closely followed by a yellow card for Jamie Miller, as he stopped the early penalty being taken. The home side took full advantage running in 2 tries to make score Exeter 31 Coventry 3.
Now restored to full strength the Cov pack at last put some pressure on the homeline resulting in a try by McGlone to make the score Exeter 31 Coventry 8. Yet Exeter finished the stronger, trying to run it in from all areas. Eventually deep into injury time the pressure told, as more missed tackles allowed Exeter to score 2 further tries, leaving the final score Exeter 45 Coventry 8.
If the final score was somewhat flattering to Exeter, Coventry need to find the mental toughness to compete more closely with these top sides, especially if in the Championship next year, there will be no easy games.
Tom Little
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