Coventry Rugby 41 Nottingham 36 - Cov just edge it in festive thriller
- 1874tsmith
- 2 minutes ago
- 8 min read
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Everywhere you go
Take a look in the five-and-ten, glistening once again
With candy canes and silver lanes aglow
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
There's toys in every store
But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be
On your own front door
It's Beginning To Feel A Lot Like Christmas - Michael Buble
Christmas arrived ahead of schedule at the BPA yesterday when Coventry Rugby, in an exceedingly generous mood, bestowed numerous gifts upon their local rivals, Nottingham. These presents all came gift wrapped and accompanied by referee Benjamin Wood's brand-new whistle in a second half display in which, especially in the final quarter, Cov seemed intent on snatching defeat from the jaws of what ultimately became a very hard-fought victory.
After establishing a seemingly decisive position at halftime with a 24-7 lead and dominating the last 15 minutes with a four-try salvo, Cov lost their discipline resulting in a series of penalties that allowed an increasingly confident Archers' team back into a game that appeared all but over when the outstanding Allan Ferrie scored just 5 minutes into the second half, extending Cov's lead to 24 points.
It all made for an absorbing and highly entertaining game the outcome of which remained uncertain until the final seconds of the game. Indeed, had Gwyn Parks been a little less profligate, missing two of the three eminently kickable penalties in the closing minutes, Nottingham could even have taken the five points instead of having to make do with just the two.
For most Cov supporters the more the game went on, the more frustrating it became.
In a tale of two halves, we saw both the best of times and the worst of times as Cov looked unstoppable. Forwards and backs working in unison to carve inroads into an Archers' defence that just wasn't able to hold back the power and pace of the home side and then going into a self-destruct mode to give Nottingham opportunities that had previously been denied.
In four of the previous five games, the replacements coming off the bench to bolster some tiring legs had had a significant impact (with perhaps the Doncaster game being the exception). Against Nottingham though, if anything it appeared to have the opposite effect as Coventry seemed to lose some of the fluency it had enjoyed in the previous 20 or 30 minutes prior to the changes.
In fairness, Rae's willingness to rotate the squad meant that Johnson, Ferrie, Barton and Bacon all started yesterday when against Caldy they'd all come on as finishers which perhaps reduced the impact of the bench yesterday? For instance, is Maunder better starting at 9 and controlling the pace of the game from kick off to allow Barton to be more impactful with the game opening up a little? For me, Maunder's box kicking is rather more consistent whereas Barton tends to inject a little more intensity and urgency late on. Horses for courses, I guess, and both are ex-Prem players so it's always going to be a tough call.
Whatever the reasons, the changes didn't appear to have quite the same influence than in some of the more recent games and Nottingham stormed back into contention despite looking well out of it after that Ferrie try. With both sides warned by the referee for conceding repeated penalties in their own 22s, the game saw it's first yellow in the final quarter. Repeated infringements by Cov, especially at the breakdown, caused Mr Wood's patience to finally run out as first David Opoku-Fordjour and then Morgan Adderly-Jones were banished to the naughty step, the only surprise being that we were two centres down rather than two forwards.
13 against 15 was going to be a real mismatch especially against a resurgent Nottingham, but fortunately the imbalance only lasted a minute at most before numbers were balanced out as Nottingham's Jay Ecclesfield suffered a similar fate.
With about three minutes remaining, Nottingham received the first of three penalties and chose to kick. The decision was an interesting one with Nottingham likely aiming for at least an extra bonus point by staying within five points of Coventry if the kick was successful. Would we have made the same choice? Probably yes, but with the momentum clearly on the visitors' side at that point, a kick to the corner followed by a driving maul might have resulted in a penalty to win the game with two minutes still remaining (something they'd had plenty of success from elsewhere in the game). It would have been a bold move, but given their forwards' increasing likelihood of scoring from close to our line, it might have been worth the risk. One guaranteed point versus a potential five—considering how the game had shifted in Nottingham's favour, it wasn't out of the question.
Having focused overly perhaps on the frustrations of Cov's second half showing, it's only fair to also emphasise that when Cov were in the ascendancy in the second quarter, they looked a really good side, playing some of the best rugby we've seen from this current squad so far this season. The forwards provided good, quick ball and the backs showed their ability to break through defences and score from close in with powerful finishes from Sullivan, Tuieti, Adderly Jones, and Opoku-Fordjour.
It was good to see Dave O-F looking much sharper than he has been for a good few games, putting pressure on the receivers following some astute box kicking at times, acting almost as a third flanker to win possession at the ruck and driving through defenders in attack. With Bavadra and Opoku-Fordjour competing for the other wide spot, there's more competition on the wings than we've had for a couple of seasons, as there is across the whole back division and we're starting to look far more of a threat behind the scrum than at any time in the last 18 months or so.
Once again the scrum was very competitive and in the lineout we won some good ball. Three wins on the bounce and suddenly we're looking a decent bet for the play-offs and with Cambridge and Pirates to follow, we should be able to consolidate on our current sixth place position. However, if yesterday's performance tells us anything, it's just how unpredictable this league is and whilst results and, more importantly, performances continue to improve, unless we play for the whole 80 minutes, there's always the danger of something like this reoccurring.
Cov's attendance of 3,281 was the highest of the day in The Champ, exceeding Bedford's by just four. This was definitely a significant improvement compared to earlier games this season, yet it was still considerably less than many might have expected before the season began. Traditionally, the final home game leading up to Xmas attracts large crowds, and while the last Saturday before Christmas is typically a major draw for last-minute shoppers, I'm not convinced that this alone accounts for the decrease.
Before the kickoff, there was definitely a lot happening around the ground, with several junior clubs from the local area participating, and the food and refreshment areas were active, if not bustling. The main hospitality tent appeared busy as well, similar to the previous game against London Scottish. Hopefully, these matches, along with the upcoming pre-New Year game against Pirates, will bring in some much-needed extra revenue.
Cov had even brought a taste of a German Christmas market to the BPA with a mobile van selling loaded German sausages - a seasonal extra that clearly seemed to be welcomed by a good few of the Coventry faithful and had young Josh been attending the game, I feel sure he would have succumbed to the temptation of big fat Bratwurst dribbling down his cheeks.
However, family commitments down in Pirate country meant he was absent (thank goodness for ClubberTV, I hear him cry) and not feeling 100% anyway, I declined my usual meal deal from Greggs and arrived late to the ground accompanied by Sue. A cup of coffee was all we had time for before kick off and, whilst expensive at £4.10 a cup, it was all that was needed. So no Unofficial Champ Food Watch this weekend but for those who follow it so avidly, rest assured the hike down to Cambridge will certainly include a full review of what's on offer at Grantchester Road. With Josh, Holly (daughter) and Sue all coming along, it should be a good'un.
As a reminder, the current Champ Food Watch standings are as follows:
The Unofficial Champ Food Watch - 2025/26
Caldy 8.5
Doncaster Knights 8.0
Chinnor 7.5
Worcester Warriors 7
Richmond 7
Coventry Rugby 6.5
Cambridge's commercial department also deserve a shout out, too. Having order our tickets in advance, I received and email in return offering the following:
'I’ve just spotted that you’ve bought tickets to join us for our Big Boxing Day match as we welcome Coventry to Ellgia Fields.
Â
As such, I wanted to reach out as there’s still time to take advantage of a couple of opportunities to make the most of your experience with us.
Upgrade to matchday hospitality – for an additional £30 per person, we can offer you a 3-course meal prior to the match and exclusive seating in The Hill Stand.
Involve your kids in our matchday flag bearer experience - we are inviting anyone attending with children aged between 9-15 to make some special memories with our pre-match flag waving, this is free of charge.
Â
If you’d like to take advantage of either of the above opportunities, please let me know by close of play on Sunday.'
I'm sure Cov push the hospitality side of things, too, although I didn't receive anything similar when I purchased Sue's ticket last week for yesterday's game, but the invitation to any children attending to be a flag bearer, no matter their allegiance, is a nice touch. And at £30 for the pre-game meal, I think that's in the region of £40 or even £50 cheaper than at the BPA (although I can heartily recommend the pitchside eating options from previous visits, especially the oven-baked pizza!).
It was a surprise to see the Elonex advertising screen adjacent to the entrance to the car park blank. Given the time of year, I imagine advertising space would be at a premium. Hopefully, it's just a case of a malfunction rather than a decision from either party to end the contract as, at the time it was installed, I was told it generated a good deal of revenue for the club. With a few 'dead' bulbs in the floodlights, too, the local sparky might be kept busy for a while.
Yesterday's win set out a marker for the rest of the season, or at least should have done. With another two games still to go before the return fixtures begin, we could find ourselves fourth or fifth after what was a fairly indifferent start to the season. That's arguably as good as we could have expected after the first four or five games and puts us in a strong position for the play-offs. We've got some tough away trips to come, notably Ealing, Pirates, Bedford and Nottingham, as well as Worcester at home, so there's plenty of hurdles to come but surely Caldy and Hartpury at home should redress a couple of those earlier defeats.
There have been some notable individual performances this season, especially from the likes of Thomas, Strong, Sullivan and Nayalo but what's struck me most is that we look a far tighter squad at the moment and it's been harder to pick out the MofM in many games for this very reason. We've often tended to rely on two or three individual players to raise the performance of the team but that's not been the case of late with the whole team, backs and forwards, much more involved. Sometimes we've been undone by a Caldy, Ampthill or a Chinnor, part-time sides without the big names but full of players with huge hearts who identify with the badge and all it stands for. Maybe we're seeing this more in Cov this season?
Morgan Strong exemplifies this - unselfish but giving it his all and putting his body on the line time and time again, as he did up at Donny. And when you see youngsters like Murray Davidson come through, local lads who have grown up in Coventry, showing a similar passion, then you know the club is in good hands.
Happy Christmas to anyone reading this...and a healthy, successful and prosperous New Year.
Up the Cov!