By John Wilkinson, Coventry Telegraph
January 11 2011

RUGBY director Phil Maynard insists that it is still ‘one game at a time’ for his improving Coventry squad after Saturday’s 25-19 win over Sedgley Park lifted them to seventh place in the National League One table.Second row Sam Herrington took over the captaincy for the first time to lead Cov to their fifth win in six games, overturning a ten-point defeat at Park on the second week of the season.

“It shows we’ve improved a lot since then and I was pleased with the performance,” said Maynard. “We’re up to seventh, which is nice and where we want to be, but we have got to maintain it and keep working hard because a few injuries can quickly change things.

““We knew it was never going to be pretty in the conditions and after a four-week lay-off, but I thought we battled well. We made a few mistakes which could have been costly, but overall our defence was excellent. Our tackling was a lot better, and I think that came from the run out some of the lads had against Northampton Academy between Christmas and New Year.”

Herrington was handed the captaincy when Nick Southern, an ever-present until Saturday, was forced to drop out in the morning with flu.

“We gave Sam the opportunity and he did the job well,” said Maynard. “It didn’t take away from his own game and the referee said afterwards that he was very good.

“Alex Nash had a tremendous game at flanker and it was a game-winning moment right at the end when we were under pressure and he threw himself on a loose ball. I could see it was going to be painful with knees and everything going in on top of him, but we got the ball back and the game was over.

“The forwards scored the tries today, but the backs had a big say – I thought both wingers played well without being able to put anything away, and for a lad who is just 18, Heath Stevens’s defensive work at centre was outstanding.”

Coventry up to seventh but Phil Maynard keeps his cool

Discussion started by Unofficial Coventry Rugby (IP Logged), 11/01/2011 17:25

Unofficial Coventry Rugby
11/01/2011 17:25

What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.

Reply Quote Report

Goto: Forum List•Message List•Search• Log In

Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.

We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment. We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals. We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards. If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing abuse@sportnetwork.net