Coventry Rugby 28 Hartpury 25 - battling Cov clear Hartpury hurdle to reach semi final

I'm never wrong at all, I always fight the call

I don't admit it

But back in the dressing room

The other side is a-screaming

And we're winning (winning), winning (winning) ugly, yeah

And we're winning (winning), winning (winning) ugly

And we're heading for the heartbreak

Heading for the blues

Winning Ugly - The Rolling Stones

At half-time yesterday, it was anyone's game.

Hartpury had edged into the lead, leaving the result finely balanced. After the break, for 35 minutes of the second half, Cov took control without ever really dominating play. That said, with 77 minutes on the clock and a 28-13 lead, we appeared to be comfortably ahead.

In what was a frantic final 5 minutes, though, Hartpury scored 2 well-executed tries, causing the home crowd to hold their collective breath. When the referee blew the whistle right after the final Bazalgette conversion, it was relief rather than jubilation that was the dominant emotion amongst the Cov faithful.

This was a very different performance from the one those privileged to be at the NNS witnessed last weekend. The free-flowing, attacking rugby of last week was replaced by something rather more attritional - this was a niggly game at times with the visitors clearly intent on negating Coventry's attacking options at source and seeming to target Matt Johnson in particular with some rather underhand skullduggery. To his credit, Johnson was remarkably restrained for the most part.

Just like last weekend, Cov had to defend early as Hartpury attacked our 5m line in the first few minutes. Cov withstood the early pressure effectively, and after enduring it, they successfully scored on their first entry into Hartpury's 22 after the visitors had chose to take 3 points having had little to no change from a very tight and well organised Cov defence.

As the season's advanced, Coventry's defence has shown considerable improvement. The worries that James Scaysbrook's exit last season would adversely affect Cov in this regard have proven unfounded, and the coaches and senior players likely deserve much more recognition for this. A few of us were worried that he wasn't replaced - how little faith we had. I hold my hands up for that one.

Unlike last Worcester last weekend, Hartpury at no point seemed to tire in quite the same way. Indeed, arguably, it was Cov who looked the more ragged of the two teams in those frenetic final moments. After the opening exchanges, it became clear Cov weren't going to be able to dismantle the opposition in quite the same way as they have other sides at home this season, partly due to Hartpury's tenacity and partly the result of a lack of the fluency and flair that has characterised some much of Cov's play in the final two thirds of the season.

Cov did show odd flashes of the high tempo, quick offloading that has delighted supporters at times in recent games but often we looked too rushed and seemed to overcomplicate things with a final pass or a wrong decision ending what looked like a promising passage of play. A couple of times players were noticeably trying to calm things down a little - calm heads fortunately prevailed in the end.

Perhaps more worryingly, we looked a little sluggish at times, especially at the breakdown where on a couple of occasions the player with the ball was left isolated and was duly pinged for not releasing. It's been a long, hard season and several of those forwards playing yesterday have played a lot of games, so it's not altogether surprising. But with Bedford having had the luxury of a blank weekend and Cov having a day's less recovery time than normal, a Friday night trip down to Bedford becomes all the harder.

I don't often comment on the referee both because it's a thankless task at the best of times and also because his understanding of the rules is always far better than mine, but I will just say that he certainly incurred the wrath a good number of the home supporters yesterday, many of whom were left scratching their heads at some of his decisions.

It was very evident yesterday how much we seem to depend on Morgan in the forwards and Bavadra in the backs to break the gain line. Both consistently push the defensive line back, providing momentum to the Cov attack. Api frequently looks for the offload, and although he is often successful, it just didn't work for him yesterday. To give credit where it's due, I thought Hartpury defended far better than most teams have at the NNS this season, which was one of the reasons we chose to take the three points instead of our usual kick to the corner.

Another possible reason for Cov's somewhat patchy performance yesterday could be the anxiety that knockout rugby instills in the players. Gathering points over a 26-game season is quite different from a sudden death scenario, which might also be partly responsible for some of the uncharacteristic uncertainty we saw out there.

Despite not fully executing their 'A' game, Cov quickly understood the match required a slightly different game plan. It was refreshing to see Cov opt to kick for points rather than go for the corner, not just once, which is rare in any Cov performance, but on three separate occasions. And how important that proved!

For any Cov statos who might read this, when did that last happen? Perhaps this was indicative of the amount of pressure the players were feeling out there on the pitch. Several games over the last couple of seasons have seen supporters exasperated at the sight of senior players opting for a chance to go for a try rather than the likelihood of 3 points from a converted penalty. Fortunately, the leaders led out there on the pitch against Hartpury.

Different though the performance was from just 7 days previously, oddly I think yesterday's gave me just as much pleasure. Yes, the circumstances were very different but with so much riding on the outcome of the game, the ability of the team to react so positively to what was a very different set of circumstances was especially satisfying.

Hartpury posed a significant challenge throughout the game, compelling us to adopt a different strategy from our usual expansive play. We committed errors and lacked some of our usual precision, but we stayed focused, maintained discipline, and executed the fundamentals effectively, especially at the scrums where we looked to have the opposition under a lot of pressure.

There was no sign of panic even when the points weren't coming and we gradually took control in the second half without ever appearing to dominate. It was encouraging to see, and despite Hartpury's late rally, this was a game Cov deserved to win. Yes, we might have won ugly, but the point is we had the ability to do just that, proving that this isn't a team that is capable of only playing 'champagne' rugby. We have shown we can adapt to a change in conditions and circumstances and that we aren't just one-dimensional.

This victory was a significant milestone in our journey with Alex Rae. While the Cov Head Coach strongly believes in creating a team that plays exciting rugby to entertain the fans, achieving consistent success and finishing in the top two or three in The Champ year on year also requires Cov to have the ability to dig deep and dismantle opponents.

Which is exactly what we did yesterday and in the first half against Worcester.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

At a little over 2000, I think I'm right in saying it was the lowest attendance of the season for a competitive first team game? It was certainly lower than most would have forecast and there was definitely a lack of excitement around the ground in the build up. Whether the club might have been better dropping the price to, say, £15 or giving 2-1 deals or similar offers is arguable perhaps it wasn't quite the pay day for the club that many had hoped for.

I do hope the reduced gates this season aren't reflected in the take up of season tickets next season, although the two are surely closely correlated. It's hard to see what else the club can do to promote sales - the team is riding high in the Champ table at the moment and is promoted heavily through social media. It's also frozen ticket prices for next season (a big thank you for that!) and isn't even in the top three or four clubs in The Champ in terms of the cost of watching a game of rugby. I'm sure someone is currently analysing the drop in gates across the league at the moment and if that is the case, hopefully the RFU, sponsors and clubs will come together to look at ways to get people back into the grounds next season.

On a brighter note, in several conversations yesterday with those who are far more informed about what's happening at Cov than I am, I heard remarks that the players and coaches genuinely think they are closing the gap with Ealing, particularly with the new players joining next season. Although this still has to be proved, it's evident that this current group of players has confidence in both individually and in each other. With relatively few players departing, there is much to look forward to and like all Cov fans, I look forward to announcements about those players incoming for 2026/27.

Just one request from me - please, please just drop the PA volume down a notch or two before the game; it's killing ocnversation and musical interludes during breaks of play that continue once play has resumed...

Up the Cov!

---

https://youtu.be/dzWxC-DHYb4?si=yqzJGt4OKlM-iYX6