Coventry Rugby 19 Cornish Pirates 21 - Cov left 'shaking all over' as Pirates take the spoils
- 1874tsmith
- Jan 28, 2024
- 8 min read
Quivers down my back bone
I've got the shakes down the knee bone
Yeah, havin' the tremors in the thigh bone
Shakin' all over
Shakin' All Over - Johnny Kidd and the Pirates
Cov fans were left 'shakin' all over' yesterday after Cornish Pirates won a closely fought encounter by just two points, this despite Cov arguably creating enough chances to have taken the points themselves.
Shaking, indeed.
Heads mostly...whether it be in frustration, annoyance or just a tinge of disbelief that Cov had lost the game after looking much the better of the two sides at the interval. Despite being level at half time (7-7), Coventry had dominated territorially, with Pirates scoring from just about their only incursion into the Cov 22.
That they hadn't gone in to the break with a couple of tries advantage meant the second half was always going to be a tight affair, but even so I think most supporters felt Cov to be the likely winners having already created a number of decent scoring opportunities in that first 40 minutes..
Pirates looking organised, but seemingly lacking any real attacking threat.
Did Pirates deserve the win?
Definitely. Away from home and playing in front of 4250 plus supporters, they showed the greater discipline and when the opportunities arose, they took them. They were clinical; had Cov taken their chances as Pirates had, the game would have finished very differently in all probability.
Should Coventry have won?
The chances were there for sure and they'll be disappointed that they allowed Pirates to score two second half tries in as many minutes, the second a 70 meters interception. But credit where credit's due, once Pirates had taken the lead, they showed great discipline, slowing the game down and for much of the final twenty minutes keeping play out of their own 22.
That Cov were able to score two tries shows what might have been, but Pirates deserve plenty of praise for holding on when many sides might have succumbed under such pressure. Cov's final try, scored by Will Lane and set up by Jack Bartlett after a rampaging run, came just too late - momentum was very much with the home side by then and an extra couple of minutes might well have seen Cov home.
Good to see both Lane (after what was a disappointing game for him last weekend against Scottish) and Bartlett having such an impact of the bench. In fact, the absence of Kvesic (injured on 61 minutes) and Chudley (replaced after 62) made little difference. At that stage Cov were trailing by 14 points.
Indeed, one of the positives to come out of the game was just how well the players coming off the bench performed. The absence of three of Cov's senior and most experienced players - Kvesic and Chudley and Poole (on 65 minutes) - could have been a concern but Alex Rae showed great faith in his whole match day squad and the youngsters on the bench duly responded, doing almost enough to turn the game around.
I thought the referee, Joe James, had a decent game, too, but I was a little surprised that despite a number of stoppages in the last quarter, most for treatment to Pirates' players (including cramp), there didn't seem to be any additional stoppage time. I might be being a little unfair here, but with just a two-point gap in the end, a couple of extra minutes could have made all the difference, particularly with Cov in the ascendency by then?
When it comes to the overall match day experience down at the BPA, I've been a bit critical of Coventry Rugby in recent games but with the club trying to address some of the issues raised by supporters, it's only fair that I redress the balance a little and give them credit both for the changes made for this game, as well as those planned for the future.
More drinks outlets around the ground yesterday will have gone down well with those supporters who enjoy a drink or two whilst watching the game and hopefully queuing time will have been reduced as a result, although I've not heard that is the case, one way or the other. The addition of another food stall should also have alleviated some of the concerns about a lack of choice, although with no healthy food options available and the threat of statins looming large, I sat it out in the car park and enjoyed a healthier, and probably much tastier, sandwich from Greggs over the road.
But no coffee van?
Or to be more precise, the Forrest truck was there but seemed to disappear at some point without actually serving any drinks. For someone who needs a caffeine fix during the course of the afternoon as much, if not more than, those who enjoy a pint or two during a game, it was a bitter (or in this case smooth, roasted) pill to swallow.
Or not, as the case may be.
Ok, there's the option of a cup of instant 'coffee' available inside the clubhouse, but the two are hardly comparable.
No other Championship ground seems to insist on bag checks and I'm not sure bringing a sandwich or a flask of coffee is really going to impact greatly on Cov's match day takings. All a bit petty and overly reactive for my thinking, really. But it is what it is and clearly those with responsibility for such decisions feel it's necessary.
Perhaps of greater interest to anyone reading this will be the proposed changes to the drink/refreshment outlets around the ground that should be in place by the next home game.
I'm hoping I've got this right, I'm sure someone will correct me if this isn't the case.
The plan is that next week several of the Portakabins at the railway end will be lifted and moved by crane across to the area to the right of the small stand, on the opposite side to the main stand, to create additional bar space. They'll be turned into refreshment outlets with the windows removed to make a larger serving area that should further reduce queuing times for those wanting to purchase drinks around the ground rather than in the John Sharp suite.
Seems a very practical solution to what's be a perennial problem.
So...
The cabins to the right of the Club Store (which remains where it is) and to the left of the marquee will be resituated...
...here. (Apologies for the quality of the photo, I fell victim to some rogue condensation!). With the tarmac path already in place, it will have a good-to-go base without any further work necessary.
Presumably the benches, which made their first appearance yesterday, are in place ready for those buying their drinks from these new outlets.
To fill the gap where the cabins were, an additional marquee will be installed (or maybe an extension of the one there already?), thus adding further possibilities for pre-match hospitality which seems to be a big earner for Coventry these days with most games regularly sold out well in advance.
Plenty going on in the background then, it seems. And if this is the case, then the club is certainly doing its best to improve the whole match day experience. It won't be able to please everyone, but if it's doing its best to respond to some pretty frustrated fans over the last few months, then that is a plus for me. Hopefully, more improvements will follow, but this appears to be a big step in the right direction.
Another huge crowd yesterday, 4307 in all. Despite the result, hopefully most of those attending will have left having enjoyed the game. With the next home fixture the best part of a month away, not until the 24th February against Ampthill, there's always a danger that the current heightened interest in the club will wane a little, especially as Ampthill aren't the most glamourous of home ties. However, there's plenty of scores to settle after the beating we got over at theirs, so with the right marketing and the prospect of an upgrade in the facilities around the ground, I reckon a crowd of 3500 plus would be a good result.
The last two home attendances - 5000 plus against Nottingham and 4300 plus against Pirates yesterday - don't seem to have produced noise levels commensurate with the size of the crowd. Maybe it's my imagination, but it was only in the last 10 minutes or so that the crowd seemed to wake up, up until then it had been quite a subdued affair with the announcer once again having to earn his keep in terms of energising the support. Perhaps it was just that there was a lot at stake and it was a tense, nervy sort of game but I felt there was a lack of atmosphere for much of the game.
Until the final few minutes, the encounter seemed to lack some of the intensity you usually get at the BPA - just 18 penalties in all suggests that either both sides were very disciplined or something was missing. No sin bins, no kicks at goal - both of which you might expect in a high-pressure contest such as this. Cov thrive best when they play at pace, with forwards and backs both involved and there's plenty of width, with both wings involved. Pirates were able to stymie Cov's desire to get the midfield into some space, a quick defensive line nullifying the pace and strength of Wand and Rigg for the most part. In terms chess parlance, for a lot of the game it was a stalemate.
The loss of Hutler was a blow, up until then he'd looked sharp and James Martin probably saw less of the ball than he has all season; his frustration in the second half was clear to everyone in the main stand. Pelligrini's deft cross kick to find him in space for the try was one of the very few occasions he had ball in hand.
I know a few fans were frustrated again by Cov opting to kick to the corner rather than go for the points, especially in the first half. I actually thought they made the right decision every time, although in hindsight you could argue that a two-point loss would have been a one-point win had Cov just done so just once - although it's never that straight-forward.
The other, slightly more controversial, point I'd add is that at the moment Pat Pelligrini's kicking percentages probably aren't up there with say Will Maisey's or Tony Fenner's. He's more than capable of banging them in from the touchline but equally he's missed some fairly straightforward kicks on occasions.
PP is the best fly half we've seen at the BPA for a good while, up there with Matt Jones and before him, Myles Dorrian; better even at this relatively early stage in his professional career. He's certainly the best attacking fly half we seen for a long, long time and one of the most exciting player s to watch to boot (pun intended, sorry).
But his kicking from the tee isn't, as yet, on a par with the rest of his game and maybe there's need to take some of the pressure off him by recruiting someone next season who has that option when it's needed most?
Just a final note to say a big thank to anyone who's either left comments on here or liked/responded to a post on Twitter in the past.
Whilst the blog is really the result of my wanting a hobby of sorts in my retirement, the fact that there are people who will take time out to read it is something I genuinely appreciate.
In this, the blog's second incarnation, I've not advertised it as I did in its original form, only posting it on Twitter should anyone be interested enough to follow it. However, it appears to have gained some traction outside of social media - I'm not sure how but however you managed to end up here, thanks for persevering.
I saw the Pirates, some 15 years after Johnny Kidd's premature death, when they were doing some university gigs back in the very early '80s.
Went down a storm they did, too.
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