By Epigone.
April 10 2011

In possibly Cov’s poorest performance in 4 games, in getting something from teams above them in the league, it took a late try to get Coventry a losing bonus point, which their hardworking pack deserved. Yet at times Coventry had no answer to the clinical finishing and streetwise defence of the home side. Once again too many one on one tackles were missed and were made to rue their own lack of finishing, especially in the first half.

A rock hard pitch saw Coventry kick off with the advantage of a strong breeze. Despite a lively opening with plenty of possession with Matt Tibbatts prominent, Coventry were unable to find away through until a disputed penalty try was awarded  in the 16^th min as Rosslyn Park collapsed a retreating scrum in their own line. Elliott Read converted giving Coventry a 7 point lead.  Almost immediately prolific goal kicker Ross Laidlaw kicked a penalty for the home side.

On 20 mins home winger Sam Edgerley weaved his way through 40 m to feed impressive No 8 Mark Lock to score, Laidlaw con making it Rosslyn Park 10 Coventry 7.

Worse was to follow as a Baxter break allowed ex Cov player Chris Lewis to score an unconverted try. Score Rosslyn Park 15 Coventry 7.

Coventry fought back with an excellent inter passing move between Tibbatts, Price and Parkins, almost saw them over. Another Coventry penalty led to a 5 m lineout and after good work by the pack Brett Daynes scored on 39mins making score Rosslyn Park 15 Coventry 12.

Yet deep into extra time a Laidlaw pass fed another ex Cov player Howard Quigley who scored with Laidlaw again converting making H/T score Rosslyn Park 22 Coventry 12.

The home side had managed to score 3 tries from 3 chances despite Coventry having the majority of possession.

A good 2^nd half start saw Alex Nash almost over and yet it was Park who scored their bonus point try on 55 mins as Laidlaw scored and converted his own try. Rosslyn Park 29 Coventry 12.

The penalty count was now swinging back against Coventry with more Park pressure and following slick handling winger Edgerley went over for Laidlaw to convert from the touchline making it Rosslyn Park 36 Coventry 12. 

With only pride to play for and a possible bonus point  on 68 mins Coventry ran it from deep with Harris feeding Southern whose pass to Ben Russell allowed him a 40m run to the line. An excellent touchline conversion made it Rosslyn Park 36 Coventry 19.

From the restart Cov lost the ball and more slick handling  saw fullback Ed Lewis-Pratt go over, the 100^th try against Cov this season, Laidlaw again converted making it Rosslyn Park 43 Coventry 19.

As Coventry went for the losing bonus point they threw everything at Park and into injury time a scrum turnover saw Seb Pearson to go over , converted by Read, making final score Rosslyn Park 43 Coventry 26.

Just about a deserved losing bonus point for the sterling work of the Coventry pack, who once again put a marker down for next season. Yet it was a case of missed tackles and missed opportunities that cost Coventry so dear, but their ability in scoring 4 tries away from home and their commitment and determination to get something from the game cannot be faulted.

ROSSLYN PARK 43 COVENTRY 26, a spectators view.

Discussion started by Unofficial Coventry Rugby (IP Logged), 10/04/2011 13:25

Unofficial Coventry Rugby
10/04/2011 13:25

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Roger Fox
11/04/2011 14:50

I'm afraid it's no good scoring 4 tries if you concede 6. This was an opportunity to secure safety in the league and we failed to do so. Rosslyn had lost their last 5 games and had a defensive record only 9 points better than Cov. Now it's 26 points. Our defensive frailty has been evident for quite some time. No doubt the coaches and Dave Ellis have attempted to instil the right tactics, but it has obviously not worked. One wonders if this problem is not reversible, with the players we have, and perhaps we should be looking to make changes next season. The forwards are developing into an effective force, so is this the time for the forwards to 'stuff the ball up their shirts' and go through the phases until they can go over the line themselves. Plymouth were quite succesful in that respect at one time. On the bright side a win against Redruth on Saturday should take us to safety, but am I tempting fate. Let's turn up in numbers on Saturday and see if we can push Cov over the line.

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Cliff Bennett
12/04/2011 13:02

We seem to be developing a split team - forwards who are clearly one of the better packs in the division, and backs who spurn the work done by the forwards in missing far too many tackles and allowing the opposition to run through them too freely and to score.
It must be so demotivating and disheartening for the forwards to see the backs allowing such free scoring against the team. The report by Epigone makes it clear that RP scored three tries from three chances, but that Cov had been having the majority of the possession.
And for us to have conceded 100 tries already this season is simply unacceptable.
When we are good, we're good. When we're bad, frankly it's embarassing, and it really is time there was some semblance of a game plan and a structure to address these issues.

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OldNick
12/04/2011 13:11

It's not just the backs who miss tackles, forwards miss them too. What is clear though is that in the attack the forwards are doing a very good job, and I would say it is better than any part of the team is doing in defence.

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Gitto's Mate
12/04/2011 13:25

Clearly it's a part of the team that needs improvement but what we don't want is a split and then row in the camp. That would be disastrous and also problematic for the backs as the fat boys ... errrr I mean forwards are so much bigger. I think they work well as a team and should sort it.

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