By Tom Little
March 8 2009

If the previous two games were a dress rehearsal, then this was the real "Monks Lane Horror Show". A Coventry side depleted by injuries never came to terms with a spirited yet limited Newbury side. A tired, jaded, lacklustre performance must have given the visiting Premiership side scout a blank piece of paper on his review of any Coventry players as his targets. Newbury were able to harness  

the wind, kicking for the corners and then tackle Cov out of contention. Despite an abundance of possession, Cov were struggling to get past the game line. Apologists will point to the fact that three Cov "tries" were denied as being held up, but in the end Newbury deserved their win. The staccato nature of the game did not help, as both sides fell foul of the inexperienced referee, but Coventry struggled to put any meaningful passages of play together.

The game kicked off with Cov facing a strong wind and showing 7 changes from the starting line-up against Sedgley Park, 5 of them enforced. The somewhat controversial decision was made to leave the only recognised goal kicker on the bench, on the assumption that plenty of tries would be scored. This soon backfired as 2 early kickable penalties were spurned and kicks to the corner came to nothing.

Newbury went into a 15min lead with a Stevenson penalty after a largely forgettable opening period. Within 2 mins two Cov penalties were kicked to the corner but ball was turned over.

Yet on 20 min for the only time in the match quick ball and breaks by Clayton and Parry, was recycled for Toft to score in corner. Sanders narrowly missed the conversion to make score Newbury 3 Coventry 5.

Newbury started to use the wind by kicking to the corners and forcing Cov into errors. It was no surprise that on 30 min a loose kick by Slater was picked up by Newbury who scored in the corner, for an unconverted try. Score Newbury 8 Coventry 5.

The Coventry error count continued to mount, and just before H/T Clayton was penalised for hanging onto ball for Stevenson to kick the penalty, leaving the halftime score Newbury 11 Coventry 5.

Despite the customary h/t rant, Coventry still seemed out of sorts, yet within 5 mins they were back in contention. A penalty to the corner led to intense pack pressure on the Newbury line, and eventually McGlone forced his way over for another unconverted try. Score Newbury 11 Coventry 10.

If Cov supporters thought the floodgates were to open, they were sadly disappointed, as Newbury dug deep, using the kick wisely and forcing Cov to attack from deep. McGlone was first held up over line and then a clear overlap was ignored. Despite a Newbury yellow card Cov were unable to capitalise and the game meandered on, until Sanders was likewise carded for stopping quick ball. As injury time approached another Newbury penalty was kicked by Stevenson to make the final score Newbury 14 Coventry 10.

Despite 10 mins of injury time Cov were unable to score even with plenty of possession, with passes flying overhead into touch, which summed up the day.

An embarrassing team performance, which had been coming for some time. There is however no time to lick wounds as the crunch matches against Rotherham and Esher now take on more meaning.

Newbury 14 Coventry 10 - Terrace verdict

Discussion started by Unofficial Coventry Rugby (IP Logged), 08/03/2009 16:31

Unofficial Coventry Rugby
08/03/2009 16:31

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