Seb praises Cov forwards after London Scottish defeat


By Brian Dick, Coventry Telegraph
April 7 2011

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH Seb Pearson believes Saturday’s dynamic display against National One leaders London Scottish underlines Coventry’s credentials as having one of the best packs in the league. Although they lost 39-27, the Butts Park outfit were more than a measure for the expensively-assembled visitors and a set of forwards that featured five players who have played at a higher level.

 

Indeed for most of an entertaining encounter the Blue and Whites went toe-to-toe with the promotion chasers and even came back from 19-0 down to lead by a point with 23 minutes left.

But while they were on top for only the middle third in terms of scoring, Pearson feels the home forwards enjoyed supremacy throughout. 

“We felt we dominated their pack,” the No. 8 claimed. “They probably had a size advantage but we more than matched them in the scrum and in the contact area and breakdown we were well on top.

“Most of the time when they took the ball into contact we were dominant and when we took it in we made yards. I am not going to be cocky and say we are the best but we have scored a lot of tries in the forwards – more than in the backs – and when we went to Scottish earlier in the season we played really well against them.

“Our pack is definitely up there near one of the best in the league.”

But what Scottish had in abundance was fitness and although Pearson’s 65th-minute try secured a bonus point and narrowed the Exiles’ lead to just four points, they were unable to hold on to their coat-tails.

A drop goal from Craig Ratford and David Howells’ in the final ten minutes secured yet another win for Simon Amor’s men.

“London Scottish have got a core of full-time players whereas our entire squad is part time.

“Maybe a little bit of fatigue set in and when we made some mistakes they were excellent at capitalising on them,” Pearson admitted.

“We dropped one pass, they picked it up and they scored. The top teams do that, they punish you but we were not quite as good at converting those opportunities.”



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Seb praises Cov forwards after London Scottish defeat
Discussion started by Unofficial Coventry Rugby (IP Logged), 07/04/2011 09:46
Unofficial Coventry Rugby
Unofficial Coventry Rugby
07/04/2011 09:46
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