Chinnor 37 Coventry Rugby 45 - swing time at Kingsey Road as Chinnor lead Cov a merry dance

Together we stand, divided we fall

Come on now people let's get on the ball

And work together, come on, come on

Let's work together, now, now people

'Cos together we will stand every boy, every girl and man

Before when things go wrong as they sometimes will

And the world that you're travelling stays all uphill

Let's work together, come on, come on

Let's work together, now, now people

You know together we will stand...

Let's Work Together - Canned Heat

It was swing time yesterday afternoon at Kingsey Road as the fortunes of both teams ebbed and flowed in a game where the result remained uncertain until the final few minutes of an enthralling game.

Indeed, for Cov it was a case of slow, slow, quick, quick slow (a waltz rather swing then?) throughout the 80 minutes against the part timers of Chinnor Rugby Club who, arguably, deserved at least a second bonus point from a missed conversion with the final kick of the game.

Coventry began the match sluggishly, conceding a try in the first minute and taking their time to find their rhythm in the first 20 minutes, by which time they were trailing 24-10. They then picked up speed over the next 40 minutes, levelling by halftime and pulling ahead to 32-45 in the third quarter. However, they slowed down in the final 15 minutes as fatigue took its toll and a rejuvenated Chinnor mounted a strong comeback, pushing Coventry to dig deep at times.

In the end, Cov deserved the win but they were pushed all the way by a Chinnor side that never gave up even when Cov had started to pull away in that third quarter. Chinnor did themselves a lot of credit yesterday and I think the overriding feeling amongst most Cov supporters who made the journey down is that the South Oxfordshire club is a welcome addition to the Championship. It hasn't relied on close links with Premiership sides to bolster its numbers, nor does it appear to have spent money incautiously to further its cause. For many, it typifies what the Championship is all about and deserves plenty of praise for retaining its integrity.

Chinnor has earned the right to be in the Championship.

Coventry Rugby is justly proud of its own community involvement and its ability to transform lives through the 'Power of Sport'. Yesterday, though, I witnessed this on a whole new level. In the space of just three hours at Kingsey Road, I had the pleasure of watching not only the Championship game, but also a women's game, a game for SEN children and activities set out for the very young.

Youngsters enjoying a game of rugby on an adjoining pitch as the Cov squad went through their pre-match warm-up

What saddened me a little was that no one seemed to pay much attention to what was happening all around them - the SEN game took place in front of a crowd of none and the women's game, following on from the Championship game on the same pitch, was largely ignored by the many home supporters who stayed on to enjoy a drink after the game.

Maybe, though, it's my reaction to what I saw that is the really sad thing; that what is happening at Chinnor is very much the norm there and its supporters like me who are the ones most out of kilter.

But to see so many people, from such diverse areas of the community, so involved in sport together, and in rugby in particular, was very heart-warming indeed.

The Coventry supporters who made their way down to Chinnor, either independently or on two Supporters' Club coaches (and many thanks to them once again for providing this service) were made to feel very welcome by very hospitable folk from what is largely a very hospitable club, the main downside being that there is no covered area at all around the ground with seating only for a very small percentage of the total crowd.

That works on a day like yesterday when it was warm and dry, but in the harsh and bleak mid-winter, it wouldn't only be the icy winds that would be moaning, believe me.

That though, is one of the very few downsides. The ground is otherwise exceptionably supporter-friendly, with food and drink outlets dotted all around the pitch offering a variety of types of 'street food' and from independent retailers rather than the near monopoly that is the case at the BPA these days.

Just some of the catering outlets available at Chinnor yesterday

At no time were there any long queues and in addition there were several pop-up bars.

At this point in the proceedings, it seems appropriate to mention the ever-popular 'Championship Food Watch'. Chef Joshua found himself spoiled for choice yesterday and whilst a burger at The Filthy Moustache was tempting, the young food guru opted for a meat feast pizza (fire grilled at £12.50) and chips (£3.50) before the game, washed down with a vintage bottle of 'eau mineral' (£1.50) and capped off by a Nutella crepe (£7.00) to celebrate post-match.

All met with his hard-earned approval and had it not been for the cost which he felt (as did I) was a bit on the pricey side, he would have awarded a straight ten which would have been the first time in the history of the 'Food Watch'.

For those readers concerned that this current culinary search for the ultimate match day rugby food is causing me to dig far too deep into what are fast becoming pretty empty pockets these days, fear not. I am intending to claim expenses on this year's income tax return under the heading 'Subsistence Allowances'.

Despite failing then to achieve that holiest of holy grails, the perfect 10, and then losing out in such a tight game to boot, Chinnor Rugby Club does at least have one thing to celebrate this weekend - it finds itself atop of the Championship Food Watch leaderboard alongside Caldy, with just trips to Donny and Ealing still to come (Pirates unfortunately aren't included as we didn't make the journey down to Cornwall this season. Apologies to them).

1. Chinnor - 9

2. Caldy - 9

3. Cambridge - 8.5

4. Leicester - 7.5

5. Coventry - 7

6. Nottingham - 6

7. Ampthill - 5.5

8. London Scottish - 5

9. Bedford 4.5

And it's above Caldy because its outlets were still open when we left the ground at 6.00...fair play.

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In places, the pitch looked a little wet and muddy, even before kick off

Team selection this weekend highlighted just how many injuries the club has continued to endure, with the back row, including on loan Mackenzie Graham on the bench, down to the bare bones.

With Young Dan Green also starting, the experience amongst the forwards of the likes of Tom Ball, James Tyas, Toby Trinder and Jordon Poole was always going to be crucial.

Logan Trotter was also making his first start at 15, on loan from Edinburgh, although the backs had a rather more settled feel to them with Martin and Morris (injured again) the obvious ones missing, together with Steff Davies of course.

The first 20 minutes of the game didn't bode well for Coventry. An early score, albeit a very well worked try from the home side, together with a catalogue of errors, including a number of penalties chiefly for playing the 9 and not rolling away, saw Cov on the backfoot all too often. It was a theme for much of that first half and although both the lineout and scrum appeared to work well on our feed, we weren't able to put a great deal of pressure on their set piece.

Frustratingly, we consistently failed to play the referee, unable to learn from previous errors. It wasn't till after the break that we started to show more discipline. Despite having the wind and the slope in our favour in that first 40, it wasn't until the final play of the game that Cov drew level following a penalty try which came somewhat out of the blue.

In the final ten minutes or so of the first half Cov had begun to show a little more rhythm and with Chinnor down to 13 at the restart, momentum was very much with Cov, even though Nairau still had a couple of minutes of his yellow card to play out. (Just by a way of an aside, in a post-match interview, the Chinnor player being questioned about the game highlighted Billy as being one of the stand-out performers for Coventry).

Coventry were probably lucky to go into the break on equal terms as Chinnor seemed to have much the better of the first half but in the third quarter, following multiple replacements in the opening minutes, Coventry raised the tempo considerably. Chief amongst those making an impact from the bench was Sam Maunder. He began to control the game, doing the simple things effectively providing quick ball and kicking with far greater accuracy than Barton had been able to in the first half. Whatever option he took, it appeared to be the right one and he seemed to link well with Tommy Mathews who is growing in confidence with every game. Maunder was the MotM in The Rugby Paper - not bad for just 37 minutes work, but it's hard to argue against the decision in fairness.

Logan Trotter, who had a fairly quiet first half, was replaced by Charlie Robson and he looked dangerous from the off; suddenly Coventry were far more of an attracting threat whenever they had ball in hand. But when we needed to defend, the introduction of Aaron Hinkley (a late replacement for the unfortunate Daniel Okeke) was always at the fore. He certainly added an energy that had been missing prior to the break.

If Maunder was MotM, then Jevaughn Warren wasn't too far behind. He took the game to Chinnor, carrying the ball time and time again and Chinnor struggled to counter his physicality. I don't understand enough about the dark arts of scrummaging to know just how effective he is in the set piece, but yesterday he was a wrecking ball in open play.

Understandably, the pace dropped a little in the final quarter and Chinnor were able to find a way back into the game, but Cov had given themselves enough of a lead to make it very difficult for Chinnor to do anything but close to within 7 and earn the extra bonus point. This they failed to do this by the narrowest of margins, missing a conversion with the final kick of the game and thereby falling short by just 8.

The red kites circling above the pitch before and during the game seemed ominously portentous and so they might have been had Cov continued to fall foul of both themselves and the referee as they did in those opening 20 minutes or so. However, Cov dug deep and in the end the win was as much down to the efforts of the whole squad as it was down to the influence of just one or two players.

Last season, Cov could rely on the likes of Pellegrini, Rigg, Chudley and Wand to provide that little bit of magic to change the direction of a game; this season it's about working more as a team, allowing everyone to play their part more effectively. This was very much a second string XV in many ways given the absence of Johnson, Kvesic, Nkwacha, Nayalo, Martin, Davies, Hutler, Astey, Richman and Morris - 10 players that might arguably be in Coventry's strongest starting 15 and more than likely in the match day squad. You can't lose players of that quality in those kinds of numbers without it impacting considerably on your team's fortunes and so when we come against teams as doughty and durable as Chinnor without them, a win away from home is a very good result.

The Cov of this season is a very different beast to that of 2023/24 and these days if we win, we win as a result of a real 23-man effort which was very much the case yesterday.

Yesterday, for a good 50 minutes of the game, Cov silenced the home crowd and it was the travelling Coventry supporters who made all the noise (albeit the 'Coventry' that rang out from certain quarters of the ground sounded more like a dirge than an uplifting chant from an enthused set of fans).

We're still tucked just behind Bedford in 3rd place in the league and if we're to finish the season runner's up to champions-elect Ealing, then we're going to have to produce similar performances over the remainder of the games. This result will have done Cov's confidence the world of good and on the back of it, we can go into the next couple of games with high expectations.

Alex Rae and the coaches have done a good job rebuilding this side after what was a very poor run of results and they too deserve a mention. Everyone has a part to play and after the last couple of games, with a very weakened squad, everyone seems to be playing it...

Together we stand, divided we fall

Come on now people let's get on the ball

And work together, come on, come on

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