Photo by Nick Meredith

By Tom Little
May 1 2015

Coventry Rugby are pleased to announce the important key retention of  fly-half Matt Jones and the recruitment of  Caolan Ryan and Adam Canning, who are both fly-halfs and established goal-kickers. 

Matt Jones, aged 31, the former Welsh International, has been an ever present in the Coventry side this season, starting in 29 of the 30 games. The Coventry fly-half has amassed 187 points this season, including 4 tries as an impressive kicking back up to Cliffie Hodgson.

Matt has enjoyed his  season with Coventry Rugby and his form has seen him awarded a number of man of the match awards including last Saturday’s impressive victory over Rosslyn Park.

Adam Canning, aged 27, also a fly-half and goal-kicker moves to Coventry Rugby from Birmingham Solihull (Bees).Despite it being a relegation season for Bees Adam finished the season as the league’s top points scorer with 302 points including 8 tries and 5 drop goals. Although primarily a fly-half, Adam can play anywhere amongst the backs.  A local lad he has played for both Old Leamingtonians and Kenilworth before a spell at Rugby Lions in their ill-fated attempt at glory. A move then followed to Spain in their first division before a return 2 seasons ago to Bees, where he became an integral part of their side. A strong fast and thoughtful player Adam relishes the opportunity to assist Coventry Rugby with its title aspirations.

Caolan Ryan ,aged 23, another fly-half and goal-kicker  was a Moseley Colt, and then had a spell at Worcester Academy, and Bromsgrove before going back to Moseley two seasons ago where he scored 19 points on his Championship debut against Nottingham. Despite an impressive start in the Championship his chances became limited at Moseley as they recruited dual registered player Will Hooley from Premiership side Northampton Saints. Recently Caolan has been sent to Stourbridge on loan playing initially at full-back and then his usual position of fly-half, where he scored 158 points and 4 tries, although he did play in Moseley’s last league game of the season against Jersey where he scored a try. Not only an accomplished goal-kicker but an elusive and strong runner he will be an important addition to the Coventry Rugby family.

These three signings will provide Coventry Rugby with some intriguing selection headaches of the right type providing strong competition and cover for Matt Jones, in what promises to be a most exciting National League 1 season.

Tom Little

Coventry Rugby press office

1^st May 2015.

Exciting news as key players fly to Coventry Rugby.

Discussion started by Unofficial Coventry Rugby (IP Logged), 01/05/2015 16:39

Unofficial Coventry Rugby
01/05/2015 16:39

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Nige H
01/05/2015 17:04

I guess good signings on paper.

But only time will tell whether we will actually see them feature in a match day squad or end up playing for Broad st.

So I will keep my excitement in check. :-)

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Kimbo
01/05/2015 18:00

And so it begins.

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Mr Meaner
02/05/2015 12:39

Surreptitious Broadstreet recruitment. I hope these lads are aware of this.
You can bet that Ben Cooper and Ben Palmer are!

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Kimbo
02/05/2015 12:51

etc.

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timdouglas1
02/05/2015 13:09

Healthy competition in my opinion. If we start with Matt, and if he runs into loss of form, we have two good options to come in. Matt never let us down last season, but he is 31 now, and maybe any knocks he gets next season may take a little longer to heal. If you take into account Adam Canning can play anywhere along the backs, then there will be quite a few players looking over their shoulders.
Any more news on who the captain will be for next season? For me, Cliffie seemed a little burdened with the responsibility, so for me, Wayne Evans must be a good shout

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Bono546
02/05/2015 20:05

These new lads may have impressive records this season just finished but in Nat L2. They have a lot to prove as the jump from NL2 to NL1 is huge ask Hull Ionians and Macclesfield ....

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timdouglas1
03/05/2015 01:15

Ask Hartpury and Darlington Park

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Nige H
07/05/2015 08:18

Just going on past experience mr k!

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Kimbo
07/05/2015 12:29

Ever considered a change of monicker Nigel?
Neg H mayhap?

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Nige H
07/05/2015 17:52

I try not to be Mr K
Its just we tend to get 'excited' about new signings every year.. ala Ben Cooper Scottish international, but he never even featured in the match day squad..
Not to mention the Argie winger who never turned up towards the end of the season, and that's just 2 I can think of off hand.

So I guess my viewpoint now is not to be excited until they are actually playing and performing in the team.

And in this particular instance where we now have 4 players capable of playing fly half, (2 new + Cliffie + Jones) it does seem that at least 1 of these 2 wont feature very much.

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