“It’s a big concern,” said rugby director Phil Maynard. “We’ll have to see how it reacts over the weekend and you can’t tell with these things until they settle down but it is worrying and not what we needed.”

It completed a mixed afternoon for Carpenter, who was yellow carded after three minutes and then scored a second-half try off the back of a scrum as Cov tried to get back in the game after leading 13-12 at half-time before conceding three tries in the third quarter.

“We played some decent rugby but I thought the referee had a poor game at the breakdown area, every 50-50 decision went their way and we dominated the scrum but got nothing for it,” said Maynard.

“That said, we went in winning at half-time and then took our eye off the ball for the next 20 minutes and once again some inaccurate kicking did us no favours.

“It’s going to be a hard week of intensive preparation for Rotherham. We know how difficult it is to play up there from recent experience but that should also serve us well in our preparation. We have to go up there and really mean it.”

After travelling to Rotherham, Cov will be at home to Birmingham & Solihull (March 27) and Moseley (April 3). Away games follow at Moseley (April 9, 10 or 11) and Birmingham & Solihull (April 17) before the final match against Rotherham at the Butts Park Arena on May 1. The side finishing bottom of the mini-league will be relegated to National Division One.

To boost support for their home games, Cov are offering fans a three-match ticket for £30, a saving of £15, if purchased before 5pm on Wednesday, March 24 (concessions £25; under-16s free if accompanied by a paying adult).

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