Coventry Rugby 35 Bedford Blues 30 - the day we chased the Blues away...

I'll chase the blues away

I'll laugh and sing all day

I've found my lover, someone who'll be true

The bluebirds in the tree

Will sing their song to me

For they'll discover I'm no longer blue

I'll chase the blues away

I'll Chase The Blues Away - Ella Fitzgerald

After the disappointment of Cov's opening game against Worcester last weekend, yesterday's win against long-standing rivals Bedford proved just the tonic needed.

Cov did everything possible to defeat a Worcester team widely expected to secure a top two position this season. However, this expectation is now in doubt following Worcester's loss at Hartpury. This result was met with cheers at the BPA, and likely at several other Championship grounds as well.

Worcester rightfully won the game against Cov in the end, but a few controversial decisions at Sixways went against us, suggesting the match could have been even tighter if they had gone our way. Despite the outcome, fans generally agree that this relatively young and inexperienced squad is likely to surprise a few sides in the coming months, making a play-off spot next May/June a very achievable goal.

I did wonder whether facing Bedford so early in the season was a bit too much of an ask, even on home turf and with such an excellent record against them at the BPA. With so many new faces in the squad, this is still a very new group of players even with a relatively long pre-season behind them.

I shouldn't have worried.

Cov were the better side. There wasn't a huge gap between us and Bedford but even though we fell behind 18-10 following an astonishing period of 15-20 minutes when we appeared to consistently fall foul of the referee, I never got the sense that the game was pulling away from us.

The players were able to regain control, making fewer errors and showing greater self-discipline which meant that momentum shifted back to us. A crucial Peter Sullivan try (two from two now) saw the home side go into the break just a point down at 17-18.

A red card leading to Sam Maunder's departure early in the second half, resulted in another 20 minutes of playing with a man down (Jack Shine had received a yellow card in the first half), and could have been our downfall. Instead, it seemed to galvanise the team and with no discernible difference in play despite the numerical disadvantage Cov 'eased' into an 11-point lead. I'm a nervous watcher at the best of times, but oddly I felt we were always in control and even when Bedford pulled the gap back to within 2 points at 32-30, I was always confident that we'd hold on.

I'm sure Bedford fans would disagree and felt they were always in with a real shout, which they were of course, but for me Cov look composed pretty much throughout (other than 15 minutes in the first half) and played to their strengths, not looking the slightest bit fazed when Maunder was given his marching orders.

It was a really important game for both clubs, two consecutive defeats is never a good way to get the season going and whereas Cov can now travel to Chinnor with some confidence after two promising performances, Bedford will surely be asking questions of themselves as they take on Hartpury at Goldington Road, especially after Hartpury's win this weekend.

A bit more on the game later, but a couple of general observations first...

...I'm not sure what the official Cov take on yesterday's attendance is, but 'just' 2764 does seem very low by recent standards. The corresponding game last season (Sept 28th 2024), for example, attracted a crowd of 3781, a whopping 1017 more.

Perhaps there is an obvious reason for the downturn in numbers but if there is, I can't think of it. I wondered if it was connected in some way to ClubberTV; the opportunity to watch games in the comfort of your living room at a greatly reduced cost and without the hassles of queues at the bar is arguably an attractive one for some. However, surely that wouldn't account for such a discrepancy?

I did a quick search of attendances at the games in Rounds One and Two and it would appear that for most clubs', crowds seem to be close to last year's averages or better, as shown below:

Attendances at the season home opener v average for the season:

Ampthill +2.8%

Bedford Blues -17.4%

Caldy +1.3%

Cambridge -21.9%

Chinnor N/A*

Cornish Pirates -9.79%

Coventry -11.05%**

Doncaster +2.4%

Ealing +4.19%

Hartpury +77.3%

London Scottish +8.18%

Nottingham +6.2%

Richmond +16.1%***

Worcester N/A ****

*Chinnor started this season with two away games

** Coventry's gate yesterday was actually 31.9% down on the same fixture last year

***Richmond's gate is compared to their National One average for 2024/25

****No figures available for Worcester for obvious reasons!

(These figures come with the usual caveat regarding the accuracy of available data and my own ability to work out percentages correctly (and I'm married to a mathematician!)).

I'm sure someone reading this can put a positive spin on yesterday's attendance but whilst many clubs appear to have either improved attendances or remained fairly static, Cov, Cambridge and Bedford seemed to have suffered pretty dramatic decreases in the opening two rounds.

I've made it clear here and elsewhere that despite my reservations about the parachuting of Worcester into The Champ, the decision has been made and having accepted it, it's time to move on. Those in favour will cite Hartpury's sell out gate of 2000 as part justification and doubtless they're right. Hartpury will have had a bumper pay day as well as earning themselves 4 very valuable points so it's definitely a win/win for them. That doesn't make the decision right, but it certainly helps alleviate some of the unease, I guess.

Regular readers will be aware that Josh and I usually do a few laps before the game. Yesterday, it was very evident that the marquee was much less crowded compared to most games last season. The tables were more spaced out, with ample room at each end. Cov has frequently highlighted the popularity and success of its pre-match hospitality through its social media and official website, but yesterday there was a clear decrease in the number of people opting for a pre-game meal despite the increase in sponsorship.

There also appeared a dearth of Bedford supporters which was strange as usually the team is accompanied by a good number of travelling supporters who have always made themselves heard; not so yesterday though.

Whatever the reasons for the reduction in the attendance at the BPA, it will have resulted in a considerable hit on the match day revenues and that in itself is a worry.

Hopefully, with another win under our belts, Ealing, next up at home, will pull in a good crowd.

A few days after the completion of Round One, @ChampRugby put out a tweet on X (see left) announcing that 30,000 plus had watched the games either live at the grounds or on ClubberTV.

A totting up of the individual attendances last weekend (Round 1) indicates that 17580 were present at individual games and a further 12420 plus watched via ClubberTV. I imagine that figure will drop a little once the novelty wears off but it does appear a significant number, one that The Champ certainly feels is worth publicising. It would be really interesting to know if that figure is in line with original projections and whether televising all the Champ games is financially viable on those sorts of numbers...

When we got to the ground at approximately 12:45 the pitch was busy with youngsters from local schools.

While Cov isn't the only club actively engaging with the local community in this way, in our frequent travels to away games, we don't see many clubs using match days to draw in youngsters and specifically introduce them to the host club in this way.

(Worcester last week, for example, had plenty of provision for children, with a funfair element and face painting etc, something we could learn from (we used to have inflatables and so on but they disappeared, maybe through a lack of use on a match day?), but I wasn't aware of any community activities going on, although maybe these are reserved for the youngsters during the week rather than on a match day, in fairness).

I've developed the habit of eating my lunch in the car before heading into the ground, partly as a protest against the club's ongoing policy of not permitting outside food at the BPA, and partly due to the limited food options available.

For those of us with specific dietary needs, none of the choices in the bar or around the ground are suitable.

Josh, however, nowadays a lean, mean fighting machine, has no such worries about the food choices open to him, so he opted for the standard fayre of a burger and chips. He had hoped for a hotdog but it wasn't ready when he decided hunger was getting the better of him. He tends to suffer from chronic hanger on these occasions.

.

His verdict?

It was enjoyable. The burger was quite tasty, even though it appeared to have been frozen and thawed instead of being fresh. The chips were crispy and skinless (which he prefers), and with some lettuce and a gherkin (which he's a big fan of), there were many positives. The total cost was £15, including a drink, making it significantly cheaper than at Sixways, although the food quality and selection were better there.

So, bearing this in mind, and taking into account the lack of healthy options (and that's not coming from me, honest guv'), Josh awarded it a solid 6.5 which puts Cov behind Worcester. Work to be done in proving some healthier alternatives there, I feel, Cov.

Chinnor next week must be favourites to top the Champ Food Watch league after 3 rounds, given what was on offer there last year....

So:

The Unofficial Champ Food Watch - 2025/26

1. Worcester Warriors 7

2. Coventry Rugby 6.5

One final comment before getting back to the game itself. At the back of the main stand, we spotted (or rather Josh did) what seems to be a pigeon deterrent attached to the wall to the right of the hospitality suites/boxes when facing the stand. It's likely been there for years, but I hadn't noticed it until now. It evidently works, as I've often sat at the end of that stand watching the players warm up and have frequently seen a lot of pigeon droppings covering the steps and seats in previous seasons.

There's none there now.

---

From the Cov e-programme

Although Tiki obviously was the man of the moment (and he had a really good game too, bringing both physicality and control to the game), I thought Morgan Strong was my MofM. He was always prepared to take the opposition on and more often than not broke the first tackle. He's not the biggest of backrowers but you'll rarely come across a better example of a charactonym; he is immensely powerful and a natural ball carrier.

In the scrums I thought we had the edge both before and after the replacements came on and we looked solid in the lineout.

Once again Aristot Salomon-Benz looks to be a really good addition and he appears to have a really good pair of hands, far more so than Nairau last season, carrying the ball a good few yards.

Mackenzie Graham got on a little earlier than he might have expected after the injury to the unluck Chester Owen and made himself a constant nuisance from the word go.

If Bedford were going to beat us, I always thought it would be out wide, but we kept their backs in check for much of the game, although Dean Adamson ran in another banger from a position from which he had no right to score. Titherington, Worth and Hutler were virtually anonymous really although I thought James was solid in defence and carried a threat in attack and Will Maisey was once again influential, particularly with the boot.

But the Coventry backs certainly had the making of them for me. Oli Morris again looked sharp and capable of unlocking the Bedford defences, Sullivan and Opoku-Fordjour were both lively and in Josh Thomas we appear to have a consistent kicker and someone who looks to be able to make the right decision at the right time.

Maunder and Barton both box kicked effectively and Opoku-Fordjour regularly put the receiver under a great deal of pressure, timing his tackles to perfections. Maunder's dismissal was fair, I thought. It was head-on-head and, with no mitigating factors, the referee had little choice. Maunder's reaction and his willingness to apologise immediately to the Bedford player suggested he thought as much, too.

The ref, Ian Tempest, certainly didn't endear himself to the Coventry crowd and for 15 minutes in the first half it got quite unpleasant with some name-calling the like of which I've not heard at Cov for many a year. Usually there's plenty of good-natured banter as you'd expect but yesterday it probably crossed the line for a short while. However, it quickly died down and normal service was resumed...

There were a number of bizarre decisions that seemed to fall Bedford's way more often than not, although he seemed to be poorly aided by the assistant referees on a couple of occasions. He's a Prem ref to be fair, but he was far too whistle happy for my liking in the first half which resulted in the game failing to flow, yet both sides seemed to want to play an expansive game. Sadly, for a while the game became more about him than it did about the two teams which is never a good look.

As a spectacle, it was an enjoyable watch and whilst Cov aren't firing as yet, there's plenty of reasons to think this squad will get tighter the longer they're together. There were a couple more injuries to add to the list, Owen obviously and Barton seemed to get a painful knock to the ribs which he appeared able to run off after a few minutes.

It was a much-needed victory - the day we chased the Blues away.

Here's hoping that neither is serious and that Adderley Jones and Mathews (if injured) are back in the reckoning for the trip to Chinnor next weekend.

Up the Cov!

---