It's got to be perfect
It's got to be worth it, yeah
Too many people take second best
Well I won't take anything less
It's got to be, yeah, perfect
It's got to be, yeah, worth it
It's got to be perfect
Perfect - Fairground Attraction
The perfect end to what has been an outstanding season.
Not quite the best in the modern professional era, although I can well understand why the club is ready to conveniently forget the 11th placed finish in Courage National Division One (the Premiership today) back in 1988, the very first season under the National League System.
It was enough to get us relegated into Division 2.
Since then though...
And a perfect note on which to say our goodbyes to the the 9 players who are on the move this Summer. They finished the season in some style; they will be greatly missed.
Every one of them.
Under Alex Rae and his coaching team, Cov has gone from strength to strength and fully deserves the 3rd place finish, well above Bedford and close enough to Ealing to know that further progress next season and we'll be snapping at their heels.
And here's the thing. I was never expecting much from Cov this season, other than perhaps some rebuilding and consolidation following what was an encouraging second half to last season. I know I'm damning myself here, but back in September I would have accepted anything above 8th or even 9th given the influx of a number of relatively young and untested players (at this level).
And incriminating myself still further, I was waiting for the bubble to burst the longer the season went on. In my defence though, years of false dawns had inevitably taken their toll and despite being fairly optimistic in outlook, 60 plus years of watching Cov, man, boy and toddler, was always going to leave its scars.
My grandson on the other hand, 15 years old and only a regular with me these past two or three seasons, is the reverse. he only knows success. Josh genuinely forecast a top three finish back in September and at no time over the course of the last nine months did he expect anything less. He firmly believes too many people take second best...
...and he's never even heard of Fairground Attraction.
The draw against Jersey and the win at Ealing showed just how far this group of players had come in such a short space of time, but then defeats to Hartpury and Pirates, both away, left me wondering if the wheels might have started to come off.
But no, not a bit of it.
7 wins on the bounce since the last defeat and only four losses in the entire season.
This group of players, under this team of coaches, is very much the real deal.
Yes, there are a number of players moving on, but with 75% of the playing squad remaining at the BPA next season, things look really encouraging.
And yesterday's game , away to Bedford, bears testament to just how well Coventry are playing right now. In many ways, the season has ended just at the wrong time for this current crop squad. Had we been playing like this back in September, well it would certainly have been a three horse race, rather than two.
Bedford are a quality side, capable of beating anyone on the day and in the backs they have arguably the league's best player in Rich Lane, the league's leading try scorer in Sean French, the league's leading points' scorer in Will Maisey and in Dean Adamson a winger who already has 115 tries to his name and he's only just reached 30.
And that's without mentioning former Premiership centre, Michael Le Bourgeois.
Bit of pedigree in there, really, then.
And their half backs aren't,...erm, half bad, either. (I was very impressed with the livewire scrum half who came on for them for the last 20 - Garside?)
Bedford play some of the most attractive rugby the Championship has to offer, always looking to attack from anywhere on the pitch and clinical once they've created the gap. How many times do they appear in the Championship 'Try of the Week' poll, always scoring from deep and always involving half the team at the very least?
They must be frustrating to watch, too, on occasions as they do lay themselves open to the counter, the result of an over-willingness to throw the ball around. If they showed a bit more patience and composure, you feel they'd have even more success.
That they weren't able to strike from deep yesterday is down to Coventry being so aggressive in their defence. They put a ton of pressure on Bedford when they had the ball, and in fairness they saw a lot of it, closing down the spaces and causing Bedford to make some uncharacteristic mistakes. If James Scaysbrook really is off to pastures new next season, then he will be greatly missed - he's done wonders this season in shoring up a slightly leaky defence in the last couple of seasons.
The pressure Cov imposed on Bedford without the ball was really evident and, if I were to be at all critical of Bedford, they were probably a little too cavalier in their approach at times. Coventry did what they've done so successfully for much of the season, ensured their defence was up quickly, giving Bedford's backs no space in which to work. Too often they tried to run from their own 22, a tactic that might well work with less organised defences but one which failed to give the home side any sort of momentum on the day.
Yes, Lane scored a couple of tries, but one was when when Cov were down to 14 after Tobi Wilson was deemed to have deliberately knocked on (a bit harsh, perhaps?). Cov closed him down very quickly and ensured he wasn't able to get into the spaces that make him such a dangerous (and exciting) player to watch.
Bedford did show what they are capable of on a couple of occasions, with some electrifying handling that was as good as anything I've seen all season, but even then Coventry were able to scramble back and ensure that there wasn't too much damage done.
Cov just didn't allow them to settle all game and from the kick off they dictated most of the play. Okay, the scrums continued to cause a few problems, but in nowhere near the numbers we've seen in recent games - a few penalties and free kicks, but importantly no yellow cards.
If next season we can compete with Jersey and Ealing in the scrums, I reckon we'll also be competing with them for the title...
And having sung the praises of the Bedford backs, in fairness to Cov it was the away team's three quarters that probably caught the eye more, especially in the second half when we made several breaks, a couple of which should have ended in tries had Cov's decision making been a little better. Rigg and Titherington are the best centre combination we've had for a long time and they both caused problems for a Bedford defence that was caught static as one or both broke the initial tackle.
Another season together and they'll be capable of causing some serious damage to any Championship defence - and they'll be one or two Premiership sides in the cup competition that might have to rethink their game plans once the coaches have studied the videos of Cov's 22/23 season.
Although, it was the backs who tended to catch the eye yesterday, it was the forwards who arguably set up the win. Against a big, and at times combative, Bedford side (including Alex Woolford and Jordon Onolaife - both ex-Coventry), Cov were able to match them up front and provide Chudley with plenty of quick ball.
It was Will Chudley who got the MotM award in the The Rugby Paper, but there were several contenders for me. Yes, he controlled the game and dictated the pace at times, and he showed he still has plenty of gas in the tank when he scored from an interception maybe 50-60 metres out, but I thought the back row were superb yesterday and I'd have been inclined to give the award to Tom Dodd who I thought was outstanding on the day. Will Lane, Chudley's replacement, continues to look a really useful player to have come on off the bench and surely deserves a few starts himself next season.
No Coventry player had anything but a good game at the very least though. It would have been understandable had players had half a mind on the next couple of months and a well earned break. With third place guaranteed and several players on the move, it could have been a very different story but such is the professionalism of this side, they didn't once ease off.
Louis Brown, playing his last game in a Cov shirt, was immense too and must have broken through more tackles than any other player, so much so that the crowd around where we were sitting were getting increasingly frustrated with what they perceived to be some soft tackling on the part of the home side. Maybe that's partly true, but every team has much the same problem - he just seems really elusive when he's in full flow.
A great way to end a great season then.
Coventry supporters, as you'd expect, were there in numbers. Two Supporters' Club coaches and maybe a couple of hundred others perhaps - there was plenty of noise in the clubhouse corner, and it got louder as the game went on, coinciding with a reduction in volume from the home support, needless-to-say!
And after the game it was clear that the players had appreciated the vocal support. They made a beeline for large Cov contingent and shook hands, had selfie's taken and said their thanks to the Cov supporters who had come down. Those who were leaving, the likes of Peters, Bainbridge and Brown stressed how important the away support was and what a difference it made to everyone and anyone who would listen.
It's that Cov 'family thing' again. I don't want to make too much of it as I'm sure players from other clubs feel something similar, but certainly whilst in the Championship, I've not seen away support at the BPA in the kinds of numbers we see week in, week out on the road with Cov.
Plenty to thank the Supporters' Club about there, too; the work they do in organising away days for many who travel is immense.
As a club, Bedford has a lot going for it besides a team that likes to play an attacking brand of rugby. There's good support, often averaging more than at the BPA (500 more this season if Statbunker is correct) and the ground has a real, traditional feel to it. There's the slope too (estimates from the Blues fans I asked ranged from between 6-10 feet from side to side), and the old stand which really is getting a bit antiquated now and every space seems to have been filled with eateries or pop up bars.
It's always lively, friendly and welcoming...
12 week Cov 'detox' is going to be hard going, but with plenty of info on new signings both on and off the pitch still to come, there'll be enough to keep even the most die-hard of Coventry fans interested over the coming months.
And enough, too, for an occasional blog, I hope.
Wishing everyone a happy, healthy Summer...
COV Rugby this season quote from the late great ballroom dancer "gets a ten from Len"
what a season just the Championship cup left shame we not in it this season both semi finals Fri 5th 1930pm CP v Jersey ,Sat 6th May 1500pm Ealing TF v Donnie- this time debatable could be earlier possibly 2pm always have trouble getting TF start times TBC, what a season especially away from home quite remarkable, that should sell shed loads of season tickets surely sales should be the highest for many a year.
Time flies two years ago today sold up and moved down here to IOW, finally after covid late night catamarans have just come back into service, so can a…