Lee Audis warns Cov to tighten up defence or face ND1 battle
By Brian Dick, Coventry Telegraph
March 15 2011
Lee Audis has warned his Coventry team-mates they must become more ‘nasty’ or face being sucked into a relegation battle.The Butts Park outfit shipped six tries in Saturday’s awful 34-25 defeat to bottom club Launceston, a result that leaves them with the worst defensive record in National One.Their performance drew withering criticism from forwards coach Dave Addleton who described it as ‘unacceptable’ and meant Cov have now conceded 626 points in total and more than 30 in each of their last three games.
And scrum half Audis admits Addleton was right to be so upset and while he insists the Blue and Whites spend a lot of time on defence throughout the week, they have to start showing that work at the weekend.
“Personally I think we need to organise a little bit quicker in defence. We need some line speed and to get a bit more aggression – we are a bit too nice because we let teams get on the front foot,” the former Westcombe Park half-back said.
“We need to be saying ‘this is our patch’ and making Butts Park a fortress but to do that we have to be more nasty and more in your face.”
If they don’t the consequences could be drastic. Fortunately for Cov the other two sides in the relegation zone, Redruth and Otley, both lost and were therefore unable to make up any ground towards mid-table.
But Cov have won just two of their last nine and are nine points above the drop zone.
“If we do not sort out our defence it is going to be a concern and we are going to have to start talking about things like that,” Audis said.
“If we don’t stop leaking 30 points a game we are going to end up with problems – we’ve got to bring what we do at training, when it all works perfectly – to match days.”
Lee is a key element in the team, if he believes what he is saying then he should be screaming at the players during the match and not wait to say it later when its too late.
Is his decision making on the pitch beyond reproach ?
If all 15 did their OWN jobs properly instead of whingeing about others, we wouldn't be where we are now.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:03:15:19:14:03 by covkid53.
There is no whinging from the players or coaches, just frustration of not getting it right on saturdays, which they are all working very hard to correct. A little less whinging from certain posters can only bring confidence to the team rather than the negative. These boys are all in it together so get behind them and better things will come. BELIEVE
Zinzanh there does seem to be a little whinging from some of the players, after the last 2 defeats with these comments appearing in the press.
I also dont think its fair to criticise posters on here for 'whinging' or being critical, as we have the worst defensive record in the league!!!!.. and at what point do you think it is acceptable to have a little whinge? when we go down again!?
I for one like the attacking style the boys have been playing this season, it is making for a very entertaining style of rugby. HOWEVER our defence is the worst in the league, and no one can dispute that fact, so i think posters who look at things objectively and are critical, are completely justified to do so.
Lets be honest most people would prefer to have low scoring games where cov win, as opposed to high scoring games cov lose!
Nige i have to agree with what you're saying after all i'm sure everyone that supports Cov finds it frustrating that we lose games when we score what should be a winning number of tries!! I'm sure none of the players like to lose games anymore than we as supporters do. As for whinging i believe we have a right as a supporter to air our opinion whether positive or negative, after all we pay to watch! I still believe in this team even though they have defensive issues. What interests me is what positions we are looking to strengthen for next year? The coaching staff must know where we need to look as i'm sure most people will on this forum, i hope we are able to attract the right level of player that can bolster Cov's defense and maybe bring some experience with them! The next few weeks will be interesting and lets hope we can pull some results from our remaining games!
zinzanh I don't agree. As Nige has said the last 2 weeks we have press articles with players moaning about the defence. Harris comments especially comical after that performance against Launceston, 2 tries scored on his wing after pathetic attempts to tackle and he spills a try! Launceston was a big low point and it worries me that the 2nd half of this season is mirroring last and relegation then was unthinkable! Come on Cov.
Yes it is good to have opinions, but surely it is better to seek positive views, rather than keep stating the obvious. We all know that losing is not the game plan, and I for one am sure the players and coaching staff are greatly suffering for not being able to produce the goods consistently. More hard work this week and lets all hope it comes good on saturday.I am also sure that each and every one of them will be doing their best to win. Roll on saturday BELIEVE
I can't deny that the idea of players and coaches being prepared to be publicly quoted in their negative comments about the team, as a unit, and about the players, as individuals, is simply not acceptable.
I don't care who it is, public negativity from people who are either in management or who are individually involved, is not on.
Maybe Peter Mandelson is available, he could give us the spin that would be NICE I say tell it as it is if you are in the position to do so, how was it that Cromwell put it ?
Defence can only work as a TEAM and thats what cov are not doing and then holes are bound to appear and trys being leaked which is happening week in and week out. better teams grind you down and pull players out of position creating holes all cov can do is work on this which i know they are doing.as they say attack is the best form of defence but cov need to start keeping possession and playing running rugby in the opposition half. but to me at the end of the day if the players are not good enough it doesn't matter what the coaching staff work on the skill level isn't there........
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