And Maynard insists that Cov’s heavy 41-11 defeat at Rotherham just four weeks ago will have no real bearing on what happens at Clifton Lane tomorrow with the stakes high for both sides.

“A month ago, Rotherham were fighting for their lives and we weren’t – we knew we would be in the bottom four,” said Maynard. “The difference this time is that now we are both in the same position.

“The players are fully aware of what these six games mean, and nobody is under any illusion about the importance of staying up.

“Whatever the result this week, it won’t be terminal at this stage, but we want to put down a marker for the games to come. We know that we have to put in a much better performance than the last time we were up here. Rotherham are always tough to beat on their own ground and they will come at us from the start but our view is let’s give them some storm of our own to weather.

“We need to be focused and concentrate for the whole 80 minutes and we have got to learn how to win close games like we expect this one to be.

“Looking across the whole season, we have conceded early scores in a lot of games and also been more vulnerable when we’ve just scored ourselves. These are two key areas we’ve looked at this week.”

Skipper Aaron Carpenter and Fangatapu Apikotoa are both ruled out through injury this week, on-loan Alex Shaw returning at No.8 and Ben Russell continuing at fly-half, while Maynard brings back winger Romain Plantey and prop Jamie Hall as changes to the starting XV from Nottingham last week.

“We’ve had a good week’s training and the mood is very good,” added Maynard. “We’ve lost a couple of players, but we are as we are and now the talking is over, it’s time to roll up our sleeves and show what we are worth.”

The absence of Carpenter and Matt Dwyer, who suffered a fractured jaw at Rotherham last month, means that Cov are without a back-up hooker for Ross McMillan, and Maynard was hoping to secure an emergency loan signing today with RFU backing.

Coventry: Mahony; Plantey, Mackenzie, C Lewis, J Lewis; Russell, Jones; Maddocks, McMillan, Hall, McGowan, Herrington, Askew, Bignell, Shaw. Reps: Dugard, Roberts, Brenton, Venter, Pons, Davies, Walls

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