By Tom Little.
January 14 2013

including Coventry Rugby v Rosslyn Park.

Fixtures 19^th January 2013:

Blaydon              v      Blackheath

Cambridge          v      Macclesfield

Cinderford          v      Tynedale

Coventry             v     Rosslyn Park

Ealing Tfs             v     Richmond

Old Albanian      v     Esher

Sedgley Park       v     Fylde

Wharfedale          v    Loughborough Students

Weather permitting potentially some difficult games involving the top four sides this Saturday.

Leaders Ealing, now 7 points clear face another of those difficult to predict London derbies as they face Richmond. Unbeaten in 7 games Ealing face a Richmond side whose recent victories have been over Esher and Old Albanians. Another close game expected but the ability of the leaders to pick up wins from being behind should make them slight favourites.

Blaydon in second place who last week lost their 11 match winning run have to face 6^th placed Blackheath, whose form has been erratic of late losing last week at home to Old Albanian despite previously beating Esher. Blaydon at home should be powerful enough to win although the Blackheath pack cannot be written off.

Old Albanian now leading the chasing group will look to overtake 4^th placed Esher, with both sides on a hat trick of wins something has to give and home advantage might pay off in the end.

The final game involving a top 4 side sees Rosslyn Park visit Coventry Rugby. Coventry now on their best winning run of the season, and now are only 2 points behind 6^th spot, face a Park side that arrested a 4 match  slump in form by giving Cambridge a 16 try mauling, helped by leading try scorer Hugo Ellis’s 7. A game that should see how far Coventry have progressed recently but with their home form should be slight favourites.

East Anglia sees the grim reaper hovering over the Cambridge / Macclesfield game, with Cambridge all but mathematically certain for relegation, whilst Macclesfield have been showing some recent form. A win for the Cheshire side could see them overtake Sedgley Park in 14^th place, and make inroads into catching Wharfedale. A nervous one for all sides but Macclesfield should have enough confidence and ability to win.

The other relegation side Sedgley Park face a north-west derby with Fylde as their visitors. Another game that Park have to win to have any realistic chance to escape the trap door. The omens are not great having lost their last home game to Tynedale but even with some players coming back Fylde now up to 7^th spot should be too strong.

The final two games both involve teams in the lower half of the table but as we have already seen this season any team that can get a winning run together can move up the table quickly.

Wharfedale are one of these teams who are too close to the relegation zone being 12 points ahead of Sedgley Park. Having lost their last 4 games including one to Macclesfield and a 64 point thumping last week by Esher, Dale need to put on a home performance against Loughborough Students to give them a breathing space. The Students will still be counting their bruises in being defeated by Coventry last week so home advantage might just count.

Finally Cinderford are at home to Tynedale. The Foresters who have only won once in 5 games but this includes a home win over Rosslyn Park, should just be strong enough the beat Tynedale. However, Tynedale cannot be written off as they have narrowly lost by one score each to Ealing, Blaydon and Esher often letting winning positions slip away.

Coventry Rugby v Rosslyn park match preview

This Saturday 19^th January 2013 Coventry Rugby return home to the Butts Park Arena as they face old rivals Rosslyn Park kick off 3 pm. Under Director of Rugby Shaun Justice and Head Coach Jan Bonney Park are currently in third place on 62 points with 12 wins, 2 draws and 4 defeats. Steady progress has been shown in their results over the past three seasons, finishing 7th then 5th last season and are currently 3rd. Earlier in the season after a run of 9 successive wins they even flirted with top spot.

Their results since then have been mixed losing to Blaydon, Wharfedale and Cinderford, but last week were back on track with a 104 point victory over bottom side Cambridge, helped by 7 tries from No 8 Hugo Ellis. Second only to Ealing as being the league’s top try scorers they face a Coventry side firmly ensconced as having the league’s best defensive record so something has to give.

Park have no fewer than 3 players in the top 10 of try scorers led by former Dragons and Wasps No 8 Hugo Ellis with 19, wingers  Neville Edwards on 12 and Charles Broughton on 11. In Ross Laidlaw as No 10 they have a goal kicking expert with former Loughborough Student Sam Catz as an equally good replacement.  More experience and pace is found in the backs will fullback Ed Lewis-Pratt and centres Dom Shabbo and Paul Mackey as well as former London Scottish No 9 Matt Heeks.

The forwards are also experienced with try scoring machine Hugo Ellis, and locks Richard Boyle and Will Bowley. The back row is also boosted by flanker Harry Rowland.

Rosslyn Park are an all-round side capable of excellent defence but also a penchant for try scoring if given the chance. Coventry Rugby will be wishing to avenge their disappointing display earlier in the season when they lost 27-15 despite having a number of try scoring chances.

An exciting game is in prospect as Coventry Rugby go for their 4th win in a row and attempt to make a mark on catching the top four sides, whilst Rosslyn Park will be looking for a double over their traditional rivals and look to overtake Blaydon in 2^nd spot.

The best crowd for the season is expected at Butts Park Arena, kick off 3pm.

The Coventry side will be published later on in the week when known.

Tom little

Coventry Rugby press office

14^th January 2013

National league 1 round 19 - 19th January 2013 match preview

Discussion started by Unofficial Coventry Rugby (IP Logged), 14/01/2013 16:58

Unofficial Coventry Rugby
14/01/2013 16:58

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