Doncaster Knights 31 Coventry Rugby 33 - Knight knight: Cov put Donny to bed as Stanton-Ford earns his spurs
Cause sometimes you just feel tired, feel weak
And when you feel weak, you feel like you wanna just give up
But you gotta search within you, and gotta find that inner strength, and just pull that shit out of you
And get that motivation to not give up
And not be a quitter, no matter how bad you wanna just fall flat on your face, and collapse
Til the roof comes off, 'til the lights go out
'Til my legs give out, can't shut my mouth
'Til the smoke clears out, am I high? Perhaps
I'ma rip this shit 'til my bones collapse
Till I Collapse - Eminem
In the end, I can't shake the feeling that Donny supporters got exactly what they deserved yesterday, even if their players arguably did not.
The loud jeering that greeted Tommy Mathews as he prepared for the final conversion— a kick that would secure a hard-fought victory for Cov with the game's last play—was unsportsmanlike to any fair-minded fan of the sport.
That Mathews kept his cool speaks volumes for his composure in what was a very nervy end to a compelling game, but he was well aware of it as his gesture to the main stand after his successful kick demonstrated.
It had clearly rattled him and his response (and that of several other Coventry players) was the best possible response to an increasingly frustrated crowd that had directed some pretty direct comments at the referee the longer the game went on.
Had it been just one or two supporters making their anger known, it wouldn't have merited a comment, but this was a whole section of the stand behind where I was sitting and, for all I know, in other blocks as well. It's not something, fortunately, I've witnessed for a long time.
I truly believe that if the game had taken place at the NNS and Tom Curtis was the one kicking for the winning points in those final moments, the crowd would have been almost completely silent, with any lone dissenters quickly admonished by those around them.
Donny's performance in the second half was strong enough to suggest that they might have deserved more from the game. Few of the traveling fans would have begrudged them at least a draw after such a dominant second half dispaly. However, behaving in that manner is disrespectful, and I hope that at the next home game at Castle Park, supporters will be reminded of exactly what is expected of them.
In fairness to Donny supporters generally, it's not something I've witnessed up there before and I don't think I've missed an away trip to Castle Park since our promotion in 2018. And to add a bit of balance, I actually sat next to a group of four lads yesterday, probably sixth formers, who were delightful, all extremely polite and well-mannered (I think Telusa Veainu was their school's rugby coach). It was, therefore, a real shame that those around them, those older and who should have been wiser, turned out to be such poor role models.
It was a game where fortunes ebbed and flowed for much of the 80 plus minutes, culminating in what was a pulsating last quarter in which Donny looked as if they had done enough to take all four points with a 31-26 lead with only injury time remaining.
Of which there was 7 or 8 minutes worth...
Donny took the lead in the 69th minute and appeared to be in control. Their game management was excellent, maintaining possession, using injury breaks to run down the clock and ensuring we only had limited opportunities when we did gain possession.
With just a minute remaining on the clock, it seemed as if we had squandered our chances, facing another second-half disappointment similar to the one at Rotherham. As the Knights attempted to advance down the right wing with plenty of space, there was a forward pass and this seemed to change the momentum instantly.
With one final chance, Cov earned a free kick from the scrum and Barton took a quick tap. Suddenly, we were inside their 22, putting immense pressure on what appeared to be an increasingly strained Doncaster defence.
And the coaches deserve credit here too. With what should have been the last play of the game (as it was, this turned out not to be the case as Donny gave away four penalties) off came Jonny Benz-Salomon to be replaced by young Coby Stanton-Ford, and boy, was he about to grab his chance.
Donny couldn't handle the pressure, resulting in three consecutive penalties that let us kick the ball into the corner each time. However, Doncaster, fairly or otherwise, managed to disrupt our catch and drive, usually such an effective weapon for us in these situations. To be honest, we hadn't had much joy close in during much of the game, so it seemed to make sense when, on the fourth penalty, Cov chose to take a tap and go after the referee had yet again penalised the Donny pack for a fourth infringement.
After an initial push from Tiki that took us just short of the line, Stanton-Ford surged over to equalise the scores, giving Mathews the chance to kick for Cov's victory. Although Doncaster supporters had increasingly expressed their frustration with what they perceived as a series of poor refereeing decisions, much of the penalties accumulated in the final quarter were due to the pressure Cov exerted.
The game showed just how important it is to keep on playing for the whole 80 minutes; had heads dropped at any stage in those final moments, the game would have been lost. However, Cov showed a great deal of self-belief in the end and had the discipline to seize on Donny's errors and at the death provide a platform for what was a very hard-earned, and hard-fought, win.
I thought we'd looked the better side going into the break, not in control but certainly the side most likely to win, with the pack looking secure. Out wide the backs were making good metres, especially through Jack Reeves who scored a great solo effort and looked dangerous whenever he had ball in hand.
As has often been the case in recent months, though, the break saw a change in the momentum of the game. Suddenly it was the Doncaster backs who were causing all the problems with Tom Curtis pulling all the strings, scoring one superb try and getting his backs moving at every opportunity. We've seen a fair amount of Curtis in recent seasons, (he was on loan with us whilst at Sale a few seasons ago) and for me, this was the first game I've seen him play where he's looked the quality player those in the know believed him to be a few years back.
With Veainu at full back and Olowofela and Tagutu positioned out wide, Doncaster had numerous options and appeared more threatening as the game progressed. Once more, it seemed as though we were on the verge of another defeat in a match that began promisingly, as too many errors began to infiltrate our play.
This week, Rae chose to keep Strong on for the full 80 minutes and whilst Poole was benched after 65 minutes, it did mean there was one of the senior leaders on the pitch at the death. I do think having someone out there to lead from the front and make the difficult calls does make a difference, although I imagine that Barton would argue that he's there to that also.
Davidson again came on to play out of position in the back row. He was a prominent figure, winning important turnover ball and doing plenty of work in and around the breakdown - as of now it does seem as if his seen as a utility hooker/back row rather than an out and out No 2.
For once, it wasn't the penalty count that was proving our undoing, we were actually disciplined in this regard, it was our handling which was sloppy at times with the ball regularly going to ground and opportunities squandered through poor handling and wayward passing. If The Rugby Paper is anything to go by, we conceded just 7 penalties in all, compared to 21 by Doncaster, a figure which helps explain, but definitely not justify, the home crowd's reactions to virtually every decision that went against them in that final quarter.
Both the Benz-Salomon brothers were influential yesterday with one of them (I'm embarrassed to admit I could tell which one it was) making a clean break of getting on for 30 metres in the first half, including an outrageous dummy. With an unmarked Poole to his right, he probably chose the wrong option in the end, but it was stirring stuff - there a few better sights in rugby, for me anyway, than a prop in full flow!
I thought the introduction of Joe Margetts on 53 minutes added a bit of bite into the Coventry centres. Api had had a relatively quiet game by his standards so the change, although quite early, seemed to make good sense. Despite not being the biggest of centres, he looks to be very powerful and it invariably took a couple of players to bring him down. He'll certainly be pressing hard for a start in a couple of weeks time against Ampthill and gives Rae another attacking option.
4 wins from 5 in the opening five games represents a decent return for Cov although in all honestly, it's not been the hardest of starts in terms of opposition. The opening loss to Rotherham was a disappointment but the team recovered well and third place in The Champ at this stage is probably what we were hoping for given that Worcester and Ealing were always likely to win their opening games. The next set of games sees us play Ealing Worcester and Bedford, so we should get a more accurate reflection of where we are by the end of Round 10 in early December.
Despite my comments earlier regarding the home supporters' behaviour at the end of the game, Castle Park remains one of my favourite grounds on The Champ circuit. The facilities are excellent, with a large bar, an excellent food outlet under the main stand with quick service, and a couple of further snack and drink outlets at one end of the pitch. there's less seating space in the man stand but with smaller crowds than Cov, it's never sold out.
Cov probably generates a better pre-match atmosphere (the volume of the PA apart), especially through it's outdoor food and drink area which gives it a distinct edge on Castle Park for me, but I can understand why the RFU would see it as potentially more suited to Prem Rugby than the NNS given the amount of land available to extend/build on two sides of the pitch. There's additional parking available just a couple of minutes walk away which is also a big plus.
Even with Dean Richards at the helm, the decision to go part-time this season makes the top tier of rugby even less likely at the moment, even without the current RFU moratorium on promotion/relegation. However, should the RFU ever have a change of heart, or more likely a change of leadership, then I could foresee Doncaster Knights being looked on favourably once again, certainly in terms of facilities and infrastructure anyway.
In two weeks, it's back to the NNS as Cov faces a revitalised Ampthill. Building on a highly successful second half of last season, Ampthill has displayed excellent form and is sure to challenge even a Cov team that seldom loses at home..
You can never quite predict which Cov side is going turn up these days, will it be the one that score 64 points away to Nottingham just a couple of weeks ago or the one that stuttered to a two point win against newly promoted Blackheath just over a week ago?
What is clear is that we'll have to play a good deal better than we did against Donny at times yesterday if we're to come away with the win and keep the pressure on Worcester and Ealing - a good result should put us in a strong position going into what is a very tough run of games thereafter.
Up the Cov!
(Please be aware, lyrics aren't censored)
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