Coventry Rugby 34 - Ampthill 6: Cov back to winning ways after strong second half showing

Show some respect, fill the deck, get the lassies twirling,

'Cos they expect to be swept off their feet and whirling,

Life is a dance, a romance where ye take your chances,

Just don't be left on the shores of regretful glances.

We may not drive Rolls Royces, we're hardly spoilt for choices,

If we're to pay invoices, we'll need to raise our voices.

Our strength is in communion...

Show Some Respect - Sting

After a what were a couple of unconvincing performances in their last two games, Coventry produced a strong second half performance against Ampthill yesterday to take the points and remind us of just how good a squad this is when it is firing on all cylinders.

It's probably too early to say the club is back on track after a first half display that left many fearing the worst - ten penalties conceded in the first 30 minutes allowed Ampthill back into a game that looked to be running away from them as Cov scored their opening try in just two minutes and controlled the game for much of the first quarter.

However, this was the result Cov desperately needed in order to ensure that the squad can go into the next two games against Doncaster and Ealing with a degree of confidence that had started to ebb a little after the results against Caldy and Pirates.

Cov remain far too inconsistent at the moment but, such is the nature of the Championship this season, they still find themselves in third place and with a good chance of securing a second-place finish if they can put together a decent run of results. Doncaster, Pirates and Bedford have all struggled at times this season and with Cov still to play all three, their destiny is pretty much still in their own hands. It's so close at the top of the table (with the exception of Ealing in top spot) that one loss could see a team drop three or four places if the other results don't go their way. Beating Donny next week would put us in a very strong position, with our trip down to Pirates at the end of the season potentially being for the runner's up spot. Hope there's a Supporters' Club coach planned for the visit?!

However, Cov will need to be far more clinical against the top teams than they were against Ampthill at times, with several scoring opportunities squandered, especially in the last 10 minutes of what proved to be an extremely eventful first half.

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The changes made to the outside ground facilities in recent weeks are a real positive and when completed, will add much to the match day experience for those many supporters wanting to enjoy a drink and something to eat in the build-up to the game.

The marque which now runs most of the length of the railway end is an impressive sight and should offer plenty of options for increasing the official match day hospitality, whilst also adding an additional bar area for supporters generally. The internal space can be divided into two separate areas by a screen, allowing the dining area to be increased according to demand - those particularly popular fixtures could potentially see the whole marquee used for catering, providing what I imagine would be a good return on the initial investment, although I presume it's rented.

Moving the 'Elephant and Castle', together with the coffee van (which was open early yesterday- yay, much appreciated by a number of us 'coffeeholics') means that there is now a good spread of supporters across the full length of the pitch opposite the main stand. yesterday, it helped create a real buzz and a sense that the ground was busier than it probably actually was in the build-up to the game.

Alongside the 'Elephant and Castle' is a 'Cowshed Tuck Shop' and although it's not yet ready to open, if that is going to offer an alternative to the burger and fries currently available in the other corner, then I'm sure that will be well received by the many supporters for whom the present offering from the 'Food Heroes' van just isn't an appropriate option, although that said, the Greggs Meal Deal on offer at the garage opposite the ground is a pretty decent alternative.

Individually, these are all fairly small changes but collectively they are all most welcome and show how the club is trying to improve facilities at the BPA despite having very limited resources at its disposal.

Credit where credit's due...if people like me are going to have a pop at the club every now and then, it's also incumbent on us to highlight the positives, too.

Of which there are many.

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Back to the match itself...

Coventry looked intent to take the game to Ampthill in the early exchanges and within just two minutes Cov had scored through Tobi Wilson.

The sponsor's chose Will Want as their Man of the Match (probably because he scored from 40m out just before the decision was made!). Interestingly, though, The Rugby Paper went with Wilson which for me was probably the right decision. The full back has grown in confidence since his return to the team after a spell on the sidelines early on in the season when he was kept out by Louis James who had looked very solid up to that point. TW is secure under the high ball, has a good boot on him and is always a threat in attack. Arguably, he's Cov's most improved player this season.

RFU adjudicator sitting in the main stand...notebook in hand!

The game seemed to take a dramatic turn following an injury to Elliot Chilvers just 13 minutes into the game. Caught on the wrong side of the ruck, he appeared to fall victim to some rather injudicious use of the feet by Ampthill's abrasive second rower, Joe Peard.

Chilvers was initially rightly penalised by the referee, but he then appeared to miss Peard's raking, or perhaps felt there was nothing in it. From the main stand though, and pretty much in front of where we were sitting, it looked reckless at best. In an age where player safety is paramount, actions like those shown by Peard need, erm, stamping out.

It certainly angered the crowd and during the lengthy stoppage that ensued it was clear that a number of Cov players were unhappy. Simon Martin appeared to have a lengthy discussion with the AR, even demonstrating the point by raking an imaginary body on the ground.

Peard received no sanction and it didn't appear he was even spoken to by the referee. Interestingly, the RFU adjudicator was sitting just three seats from us and he made a fair few notes at the time.

From then on it all got a bit niggly. Whether it was the incident itself or just the prolonged break in play, Cov seemed to lose their momentum, conceding penalty after penalty and allowing Ampthill to put points on the board despite rarely, if at all, threatening the Coventry line.

A 5-0 lead turned into a 5-6 deficit within the next 12 minutes. Ampthill were able to disrupt Cov's play and with numerous penalties, a couple of melees and a few stops for injuries, the visitors successfully achieved what appeared to be their only real tactic - prevent Cov from playing an expensive game and feed off the scraps. Despite plenty of hustle and bustle, Ampthill looked pretty one-dimensional and whilst they contained the home side for the rest of the half, Cov had far too many options across the park and, in the end, Ampthill simply had no answer to Coventry's pace and power in the second half.

In the final 10 minutes of the first half, Cov began to take control but were unable to cross the line for a second time despite a couple of excellent opportunities. Toby Trinder made a welcomed return to the front row, although his appearance after just 13 minutes for the injured Chilvers meant he had to play a good deal longer than was perhaps ideal in his first game back after such a long injury.

Although the backs will take most of the accolades from yesterday's game, I thought the scrum once again looked solid and at times the Ampthill pack was forced to retreat at a rapid rate, earning Coventry a number of penalties and the chance to attack from the resulting lineouts. Domination in the scrums of the kind we saw yesterday give Coventry a solid platform for its attacking game and when things click, as they did in the second half, few teams at this level can cope with their expansive game.

Coventry did choose to kick the points on a couple of occasions but Pat Pelligrini, who put in a very strong shift otherwise, did miss an eminently kickable attempt which maybe one of the reasons why Cov don't always take that option. Whilst he's quite capable of converting from the tryline (as we also saw yesterday) so he can miss relatively easy chances, too.

As a sidenote, it was refreshing to see the Cov scoreboard being used to remind supporters during the game to keep quiet when kicks were being taken - presumably a response to the poor behaviour shown by a couple of Coventry 'supporters' down at London Scottish last month. Whilst it shouldn't be necessary, sadly there are those who do need to be reminded every now and again.

The statistic I quoted in the previous post of Coventry being outscored in the second half of 8 of the last 11 games was certainly something Alex Rae must have been all too aware of, but fortunately there was to be no repeat yesterday. Whatever words were spoken at half-time, Cov came out firing on all cylinders and two tries in the opening 6 minutes took the game away from Ampthill and from thereon in, it was more a question of how many points Cov would win by than any concerns about an Ampthill fight back. The visitors were made to look very ordinary whilst the Coventry backs looked dangerous every time they got the ball.

Alex Rae was able to make wholesale changes in the final 30 minutes with no loss of fluidity. I thought Chester Owen had a really impressive debut coming off the bench - although still only 20/21 he created plenty of problems for Ampthill's defence, breaking the line on several occasions and creating space for the backs to run into. With Bartlett and Owen now available alongside Nayalo, Kvesic, Ball and Ryan, Cov has more options in the back row than its had for a long time.

Tom Hitchcock appeared to slot comfortably into midfield. Cov used him pretty much as they used Rigg - plenty of crash ball, sucking in defenders and giving opportunities in the next phase for players to find space. He's strong and powerful, not quite as big as Rigg, but not far off and whilst he didn't always break the tackle in the way WR often did, one game in and he already looks a very useful acquisition indeed, albeit for only the remainder of the season.

Nilling Ampthill in the second half whilst scoring 29 points in the process is really encouraging, as is the fact that Ampthill were unable to cross our line, or even threaten it, during the entire game. They're doughty and committed, but certainly on yesterday's showing, and indeed when we were beaten over at theirs earlier in the season, they don't have the creative options that we, potentially, do.

On a fast, quick, artificial surface, Ampthill were well-beaten and despite making it uncomfortable for us in the first half, Cov were just too strong across the whole park. Whilst it was good to see Pete White back at his old stomping ground, he got no change out of Cov's defensive game and we saw little of his attacking flair that made him such a popular player whilst he was with us.

A crowd of just over 2500 was a thousand down on the season's average, the result both of Ampthill being one of the less attractive teams to watch in the league and a dip in results for the home side. I was surprised it was as low as it was, but it's a salutary lesson really - successful, winning sides are always going to attract bigger crowds. We're never more than a couple of games away from these sorts of attendances. An extra thousand on the gate is probably in excess of £15000 in revenue and with 11 home games a season, that's a huge source of additional income.

The next home game against Ealing will be far better attended; another chance for Cov to down one of the front runners and an opportunity to see some big names humbled. Cov have made a habit of doing that at the BPA in recent seasons.

We may not drive Rolls Royces, we're hardly spoilt for choices,

If we're to pay invoices, we'll need to raise our voices.

Our strength is in communion...

Kind of sums up what Cov are about these days...

...together we really are stronger.

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