Coventry Rugby 35 Ampthill 17 - Cov provide a spooky spectacle as they brew up another magic win to ghost past the Mob

racking through the walls

It sends you spinning

You have no choice]

Following the footsteps

Of a rag doll dance

We are entranced

Spellbound

Spellbound - Siousxie and the Banshees

There were no tricks and only a handful of treats on show at the Nick Newbold Stadium yesterday but, even so, I thought this was possibly the best performance of the season so far against an Ampthill side that came to Cov full of confidence, 5th in the league and ready to leapfrog above us should they have taken the points themselves.

It was a Halloween spooktacular that in the end saw us worthy winners and maintain the pressure on both Ealing and Worcester at the top of the Champ table.

By halftime the fright was on. Ampthill led 7-12, having effectively stifled our initial attacking intentions. Their forwards were effective at the breakdown, and their tactical kicking was pinpoint, with their chasers leaving our receivers with minimal space in which to operate. Going into the break, it seemed as though the second half would be much, much tighter than it ultimately turned out to be.

Cov's second-half performances have recently been inconsistent, so it was especially satisfying to see them dominate play from the restart, both in terms of territory and possession. Ampthill appeared somewhat one-dimensional really, primarily posing a threat through their catch and drive from a few metres out. However, Cov's discipline was outstanding, limiting Ampthill's chances to kick deep into our half and thus stifling this main attacking outlet. During open play, they were unable to break through a Coventry defence that held its line effectively, advanced quickly, and rarely missed a first tackle tackles.

Even with absences and injuries, Cov was able to put out what looked, on paper at least, a strong starting XV and a bench that looked as experienced as any this season. The only concern perhaps was in the front row where neither of the Benz-Salomon brothers was starting, with Keston Lines and Suetena Asomua were propping either side of Jordon Poole. I say concern, but Keston Lines has always looked solid when he's come on and the only doubt about Asomua was that he had yet to make a Champ start.

More a bit of doubt rather than out and out worry really. Not for nothing is my middle name Thomas.

However, the scrum turned out to be quite a revelation, as both props adapted well to their starting roles, creating significant challenges for the Ampthill pack the longer the half progressed. This dominance persisted after halftime, with Jonny S_B and Tumy Onasanya continuing to cause disruption in the set pieces.

Suetena Asomua

I was particularly impressed with Suetena Asomua's first half contribution - as well as looking to be a handful in the scrum, he was really noticeable in the loose, too, and at half-time he was one of my standout players and vying with Tom Ball for my MofM. Strong with ball in hand and physical in the tackle, he seemed to cover a lot of ground.

He didn't return after the break, presumably a pre-determined decision to allow Jonny Salomon-Benz to come on for a 40 minute shift, but his addition to the Cov squad, albeit just on the basis of that 40 minute showing, looks to have strengthened front row options considerably.

I think many supporters felt that a lack of depth in the front row could be a weak link in the squad this season, but after yesterday's game, both Asomua and Onasanya look like excellent prospects. They'll likely have more game time in the next few weeks as the Benz-Salomon twins are away on international duty, so it will be interesting to see how they get on against the likes of Ealing, Worcester, and Bedford should they get given the chance.

Yesterday's second half performance was really encouraging; we're beginning to win tight games now with more regularity. It's all very well scoring 60 plus points but we also need to be taking away the points from games where in the last couple of seasons we've fallen to late scores or poor second half performances.

I do try to keep up with most of the other Championship scores during Cov games (thanks, Trevor!). This season, it seems that both Ealing and Worcester aren't dominating games as much as they did last season, at least in terms of the scoreline, and only manage to pull ahead in the final quarter.

With the team Alex Rae is building, those last 20 minutes or so might become even more competitive against the top teams than they have been in the past couple of seasons (especially away at Vallis Way, where we consistently perform well for the first 50-60 minutes before faltering). Based on yesterday's performance, and the way we held our nerve at Donny to score in the final seconds the previous week, supporters should feel encouraged that we are beginning to close the gap between us and the top two sides in this league.

And yes, I do appreciate that we finished ahead of Worcester last season, but given the size and depth of their squad, and the fact that they've been together for a full season now, they're probably seen by most supporters who follow the Champ as one of the two top sides this year, with Bedford and us making up the other top four places.

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I was a bit more of a F!&kwit than usual yesterday.

I hadn't clocked that yesterday's game was a 1.00 pm kick off and it was only a message from my son who was making a rare trip to the NNS with his lad that alerted me to my mistake.

The Saturday of a home game usually looks the same for me - walk into Solihull with Sue, have a coffee and a read of the paper and then head back to pick up Josh. It was well after 10 when I realised my error so I had to leave Sue and rush back home, full of apologies and the promise to do the washing up for the week (well, stack the dishwasher anyway).

I always like to get to the ground early as it's so much easier to get a parking space but I needn't have worried yesterday.

With 90 minutes to go to kick off the only thing that was missing was the tumbleweed.

Obviously, it was a lot busier the nearer it got to 1.00 pm but it was still yet another very disappointing attendance for what had been promoted as a 'Family Day' by the club. Cov had certainly given the game plenty of advertising space on its socials, but I can't help but think 1.00 pm is just about the worst kick off time on a Saturday. It prevents you don't anything that might go on beyond 11.00 am at the latest and there's no time post-match either to do anything int he afternoon.

Initially, I'd mistakenly thought that the kick-off time was determined by the club, possibly to avoid conflicting with Cov City's 3:00 pm game. However, in his 'Chairman's Notes', Jon Sharp mentioned, 'Today we are part of the league's experiment with unusual kick-off times,' indicating that this isn't the case at all.

If the club had been 'encouraged' by the Champ to switch to a lunchtime start, it might well have proved costly for Cov.

Even though attendances have significantly decreased compared to 18 months ago, the turnout of under 2400 would likely have been higher if the event had started at 3:00 pm. Assuming yesterday's attendance was 250 fewer than anticipated for a 3.00 pm start, this would still result in a potential loss of £6250 from gate receipts alone, not including additional revenue from food and drink sales. And that's money no club at this level can afford to lose.

Experiments of this nature cost the Champ nothing but the individual clubs a great deal.

If it's a change determined by a live tv broadcast, I kind of get that even if it is disruptive to spectators, but I'm not sure anyone would have anticipated anything but a reduced attendance for a 1.00 pm kick off. And the irony was that even though promoted as a Family Day, there didn't seem to be any more youngsters there than on a usual Saturday afternoon. All the club's good intentions wasted on an 'experiment'?

To me it just seems a no win situation for the club, damned by the likes of me if they do and by the Champ if they don't. I do feel for Cov here. They certainly gave it a go.

Hopefully, not again though.

So no more early starts, then.

Until next week, of course, when Caldy go with a 1.00 pm kick off too, which actually works out ok if you're a travelling supporter as at least you get home that much earlier.

Fickle is the word your looking for...

On a different note, the food outlets have upped their game bigtime since the days of the monopoly that was 'Food for Heroes', both in quality and price (subjective, I know).

For the second home game running, Josh went for a vegan hot dog and chips (and what a huge portion it was). The very fact that there's a vegan option is worthy of a mention in dispatches.

At £12.50, I didn't think the price was too outrageous for a sporting venue, and there were plenty of other food choices available—pies, pizzas, burgers, and the like. Unfortunately, the elusive hummus, avocado, and tuna on granary hasn't made its debut yet, but I'll keep championing the cause as long as my arteries can take it (which will definitely be longer than those opting for the double burger with cheese and fries, obviously).

With no time yesterday morning for homemade sandwich eaten at my leisure in the salubrious setting of the club's own carpark, I hopped across to the garage opposite and had a rather pleasant chicken tikka roll which was perfect and for a little over £4 was good value, too.

It was a very slow build up to the game in all honestly and the atmosphere generated at both a 3.00 pm or 7.45 pm kick off was noticeably missing, as was the noise from the stands, with gaps all around where we were sitting which is most unusual.

Good performances in the next two games, both away, at Caldy and Ealing, should mean that the club can expect a 3500 plus crowd for the next home game against Worcester (21st Nov) and maybe even 3000+ for the final game before Christmas v Chinnor (13 Dec). For me, this current Cov squad is the best we've seen in the Champ with the exception of the 22-24 seasons with Wand, Rigg,, Pellegrini, Chudley etc, so it's all the more disappointing that gates are down to levels last seen five or six seasons ago.

Whilst Cov are very much on the up, the country's economic prospects are in decline and perhaps this is the driving factor with regards to lower gates these past couple of seasons.

Year	Av. Attendance	Highest Attendance	Lowest Attendance
2021/22	2313 (2nd to Bed)	3329	1804
2019/20	2455 (3rd to Newc.)	3177	1932
2018/19	2307 (3rd to Irish)	2943	1999
2017/18	1868 (1st)	3758	1357
2016/17	1263 (1st)	2712	939
2015/16	1152 (1st)	1435	851
2014/15	1506 (1st)	2132	1025
2013/14	1201 (1st)	1601	917
2012/13	857 (1st)	1166	648
2011/12	1051 (2nd to Jersey)	1643	745
2010/11	834 (2nd to B'th)	1541	432

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While yesterday's game wasn't the most exciting to watch from a spectator's perspective, the manner of the win was really pleasing. It was Halloween yesterday, and Cov began as if they were intent on providing the Cov faithful with an entertaining, open game as they tore into the Ampthill side from the kickoff, running at them at every opportunity and scoring a scintillating opening try as Tiueti unlocked the Ampthill defence and offloaded to Tom Ball who raced through to score on 3 minutes.

But it was a treat that only served to trick us all. As Ampthill's forwards began to get into the game and we lost some momentum at the breakdown, the game began to lose its rhythm a little, with Ampthill playing it tight, keeping the ball away from our backs who looked dangerous for much of the afternoon.

Interestingly, while I believe most impartial supporters would have observed Cov's forwards becoming increasingly dominant, especially in the scrums, Ampthill's head coach Dave Ward had a different perspective. He noted that 'when our players are officiated differently in the first half compared to the second half, it's very hard to adapt,' while reluctantly acknowledging that it was 'a decent Cov team'... (The Rugby Paper)

Best then, to leave the final say with Cov's own head coach. In his post match comments, he seemed very pleased to have 'found a way to win the game in the end', even when 'things don't work out and it can appear a bit 'messy'. He goes on to say, 'There is plenty for us to work on but that's exciting because although we are nowhere near where we want to be, we are winning games of rugby. That's five wins on the bounce now.'

It was Halloween and we were all left Spellbound...

Up the Cov!

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It was Halloween and we were all left Spellbound...

https://youtu.be/TjvvK-Rj0WI?si=DlNLdvYiHNkQX9ZE