Rotherham 38 Coventry Rugby 35: Clifton Lane - a level playing field?
How many of you people out there
Been hurt in some kind of love affair
And how many times do you swear that you'll never love gain?
How many lonely, sleepless nights
How many lies, how many fights
And why would you want to put yourself through all that again?
Brand New Day - Sting
To be frank, when the fixture list first came out, first up I was hoping for a home game against one of the more established Champ clubs, one that would likely be challenging for a top four position come the end of the season.
Ealing, Bedford or Worcester at home would have been ideal; get them out of the way early doors when they've not had the chance to find their true form.
Playing away at Rotherham was always likely to be a tricky challenge. The hosts, buoyed by topping National One last season and some smart summer signings, seemed set to provide a tough opening match for Cov, a team that frequently begins the season slowly and gains momentum as it progresses.
And so it proved.
It's been several years since my last visit to Clifton Lane, and although the club has experienced many changes on the playing side, the ground itself has seen little development in terms of new facilities. The most significant change is the reorientation of the pitch, which has been rotated 90 degrees so that the main clubhouse now runs parallel to the pitch instead of being at one end. While the reasons for this change might primarily relate to the potential for additional stands on the opposite side, it has also provided them with a significant advantage on the playing front.
More on that later.
I do recognise that the club operates mainly through the efforts of volunteers, so its very existence at this level deserves commendation and everyone I spoke to was exceptionally friendly and welcoming but it was all a bit soulless given the magnitude of the occasion for the club, especially in hour or so before kick off.
Currently, the club's facilities fall well short compared to other clubs at this level. Even with a crowd of just 750 people (as reported by The Rugby Paper), there were excessively long queues at the drink and food outlets, with only one small area providing hot food, as well as at the toilets.
There were some complaints here and there, but I believe everyone understands that the club needs time to adapt to The Champ and sympathises with the challenges its been forced to confront in this regard. However, as the season advances, the weather shifts and presumably crowds grow (particularly if the players maintain the level of performance we witnessed from the Titans yesterday), I suspect supporters' patience will wane.
It's a lovely set up in many ways and, as I have already mentioned, the folk there are uber friendly - but it was like watching Cov 30 years ago for me, even down to cash only entry (the reason being that the club could afford the expense of the card readers, apparently). It will be interesting to see how they adapt to life in The Champ as the season progresses, or even if they feel they need to do.
I'm not sure how much away support Titans enjoy these days, but those who do follow their side around the country will certainly notice the difference, especially in some of the clubs in a similar position to Rotherham, those clubs that remain semi-professional. Caldy and Chinnor are two clubs that provide excellent facilities and presumably on a much smaller budget than say Ealing, Worcester, Bedford or Coventry.
£25 just to stand will make Clifton Road one of the more expensive places to watch Champ Rugby, so they are going to need to provide a little more in the way of facilities over time, especially toilets. However, I'd gone there in the expectation of having to pay for Josh too (he's 18 now), but the lovely lady at the gate waved him in after asking his age first, so fair play in that respect. They're certainly not trying to bite the hand that feeds them, so to speak.
The lead-up to the game was quite subdued. There was some music playing, but nothing that encouraged a singalong. Ten minutes before the game, the music stopped, and for five minutes, there was almost complete silence. This silence was so pronounced that some fans near us thought it was a moment of remembrance for someone associated with the club who had recently passed away. The atmosphere was rather eerie, especially when compared to the lively pre-match entertainment we usually experience at the NNS these days, which represents the opposite end of the spectrum. Personally, somewhere in the middle would suit me just fine.
In fairness though, the roving announcer was a really lovely chap who shared a few words with us during the game as he passed in front of us every now and again...it was a shame the quality of the public address made it hard to hear him at times over the speakers on the far side of the pitch
I really enjoyed the trip up to Rotherham despite the result, and I should make it clear at this point that the hosts thoroughly deserved the win. Whilst Cov were way off the kind of form we saw towards the end of last season, Titans played the conditions and the pitch far better than we did, especially in the second half. Cov made too many errors over the course of the game, and even though they had the chance to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in the final seconds of the game, I'm not sure they would have deserved the points, to be honest.
In recent weeks, my optimism for the upcoming season had increased, and I likely had higher expectations for Cov than I should have. This was partly because I had been following Cov's social media more closely than before. Almost daily, Instagram, Facebook, and X feeds shared numerous clips of training sessions where Cov look sharp and full of confidence. Alex Rae mentioned how well the team had bonded and that recruitment had been outstanding, while the players expressed their hopes for the season.
Yesterday might have been the reality check I needed. Coventry were significantly below the levels we'd come to expect towards the end of last season and lacked the rhythm and consistency required to play their quick offloading came that puts so many teams under pressure. It's still early days, and I'm confident things will improve quickly, but yesterday mainly reminded me how close the competition is between the top clubs and the rest of the league. With Cambridge relegated, the newly promoted teams will undoubtedly enhance the overall quality of tier 2 rugby.
And as far as Rotherham is concerned, I firmly believe that other clubs visiting Clifton Lane this season will find it equally challenging. Although this is based on just one result, I would be very surprised if Rotherham ends up in the bottom two by the end of the season.
Even so, we all anticipated that Rotherham would challenge us, however it's still a little disconcerting that when they did, we just weren't able to respond.
A full coach, organised as usual by the Supporters' Club—many thanks to them—travelled to Rotherham with hopes of securing at least 4 points for the win (achieving the bonus point for a 3-try advantage will be quite challenging, and there will likely be a significant decrease in bonus points earned this season. I'm not entirely convinced this initiative is as beneficial as we've been told).
I was hoping for a performance of 'titanic' proportions and in fairness that's exactly what we got, albeit of the iceberg variety. Even though we entered the break with a 28-12 lead, we never appeared at ease, and playing uphill in the second half meant that a 16-point advantage wasn't as significant as it might initially appear.
The slope at Clifton Lane will provide Rotherham with a significant advantage as we move into the Winter months. Although this was the Titans' first competitive match on the new pitch, they have evidently adapted to it quickly. In the second half, the Titans used their powerful forwards and strong set piece to great effect, capitalising on Coventry's lack of discipline, which led to critical penalties. This allowed Rotherham to frequently kick deep into the far corner on far too many occasions. On that slope, even in dry conditions, any team playing down hill close to the opposition line is going to be really tough to stop with a bit of momentum behind them.
And when the grass becomes slippy and greasy, it's going to be next to impossible. I pity those teams visiting Clifton Lane from November to February if there's any hint of rain about.
Cov played well in patches and when we did have ball in hand the backs looked capable of unlocking the Rotherham defence. But we gave away far too much good ball as the game went on, allowing the Titans to play to their strengths rather than us play to ours.
In the first half both scrums were evenly matched and we probably had the advantage at the lineout. However, the Rotherham scrum began to dominate the longer the game went on and by the time the benches had been emptied, we were going backwards at an alarming rate. Both of our replacement props are young and lack a little experience at this level despite their obvious potential and we appeared to miss the likes of Matt Johnson or the departed Eliot Salt to come on and steady the ship when it was most needed.
The work rate was high despite the errors, with Coventry's backrow working hard, led as always by Morgan Strong who again had a number of telling carries. Api Bavadra looked dangerous whenever he had a bit of space (and even when he didn't at times) and Bruce Houston had a steady if not spectacular game at 10 - his 100% record off the tee suggests Cov have another very consistent kicker to backup Tommy Mathews and Josh Thomas when required (or vice versa). With Joe Margetts and Matt MacNab still to come in, there's plenty of firepower available out wide to Alex Rae should he feel the need to make changes next week (depending on fitness).
Sam Maunder took his tries well, sniping close in and I thought Pete Sullivan looked lively when he replaced Bavadra after 55 minutes and must be close to a starting place if fit. Rhys Fulford, Marcus Rhodes and Rhys Tait all seemed to blend in well and with Dan Green also making an impression when he came on, there are plenty of options in the second and back rows even without Jack Shine, MacKenzie Graham and Onisivoro Nayagi.
The Titans' comeback seemed inevitable though once they had the benefit of the slope, and Cov increasingly struggled to counter the strength of the Titans' pack. Despite this, Cov had an opportunity to secure an unexpected victory in the final moments of the game, thanks to a couple of hard-earned penalties that gave them a lineout deep in the opposition's 22. In a rare advantage for Cov, Dan Green swan-dived over the line, only for the play to be called back due to a knock-on. Subsequently, Cov conceded another penalty, allowing the Titans to kick the ball out of play for the final whistle.
The second half was extremely tense (Josh's heartrate reaching 128 apparently in those closing few minutes) and had Cov played with just a little more precision, they might have still secured a win. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, leaving Cov supporters disappointed with a performance that fell well short of the high standards set in the latter part of last season. Despite clearly being disappointed by the result, the atmosphere on the way back was quite positive. The Supporters' choir at the back of the coach began a spirited rendition of 'Stand By Your Man', likely as a tribute to the late Tammy Wynette rather than any subtle message directed at Alex Rae!
I won't be doing an Unofficial Champ Food Watch this season because with 12 clubs probably offering the same food as in past years, it might get a bit repetitive. However, I will still provide comments on the availability of food and general approval ratings, just without a league table.
Rotherham provided a range of hot foods from a small area to the side the main bar.
The most popular option was a beef pie similar to Donny's renowned 'Cow Pie,' and at £9.50 for pie, peas, and chips, it was reasonably priced (a solid 6.5/10 from Josh).
Regrettably, my time of savouring this kind of match day food is long past, and the other choices were just as heavy. Nevertheless, there was consistently a long queue for food whenever we entered the bar—primarily because only one person was serving at a time, and customers were placing multiple orders. When Josh made his order, the poor lady serving seemed a little overwrought - demand appeared to be exceeding supply.
All in all, it was great to be back on the road with Cov even though the result didn't go our way. Cov will only get better and in many ways disappointing as this result is, it will refocus the coaches and players, a reminder that any team in the league can cause a bit of an upset if we're not completely on our game.
Is it reasonable to consider the outcome an upset? While I don't mean to belittle Titans' fans in any way, a fully professional team that finished third last season might have anticipated a victory, despite Clifton Lane being a challenging venue. The fact that the hosts emerged victorious speaks volumes about their grit, determination, and skill, and I'm sure they'll achieve more impressive wins there throughout the season.
Well done to them!
Up the Cov!
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