Coventry Rugby - Player Ratings 2023/24

I could be wrong, I could be right

I could be black, I could be white

I could be right, I could be wrong

I could be white, I could be black

Anger is energy...

Rise - Public Image Ltd.

Before I go any further with this, I need to make it clear that these aren't my ratings.

I've taken then from The Rugby Paper's match day reports where they are included as part of the paper's reviews of every Coventry Cup and Championship game.

They really shouldn't be treated as anything other than a bit of additional information relating to how players' performances have been perceived by those reporting on this season's Coventry Rugby fixtures.

All the data below has previously been published and is out in the public domain; all I've done is to bring those weekly ratings together on a spreadsheet for all Coventry Rugby's competitive fixtures so far this season, both home and away.

I've always tended have a quick gander at the weekly match ratings as they often give an interesting insight into how reporters view a particular player's input in a game, often coinciding with those of the majority of supporters, although not always.

Towards the end of any home game, or on the coach on the way back if we're away, invariably discussions will start up as to who the 'Man of the Match' was or which players had particularly good games or which ones struggled a little.

This post is merely an extension of that. No more, no less.

What this post attempts to do is to carry on those sorts of discussions a little further, focusing on a run of games rather than just one in isolation so that you can potentially begin to look at consistency of performance rather than just one-off games.

There are lots of caveats here that those opposed to this sort of thing will inevitably jump on - the number of appearances, the quality of the opposition, ratings being based on opinion rather than being data driven etc etc, all of which are, of course, true.

However, it's really not meant to be taken too seriously and I trust those reading it will view it in a similar vein.

The other thing worth mentioning is that all home games tend to be covered for The Rugby Paper by Paul Smith these days, someone who's probably going to be rather more pro-Cov than those reporters covering Cov's away games who'll be looking those games more with the opposition in mind.

For this reason, then, Cov's home performances are often going to be awarded higher ratings than their away ones, if that makes sense.

That said, I rate Paul's opinion highly, he's being doing the job a long time and is far more knowledgeable than most.

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I've included three ratings' charts:

1. Overall ratings

2. Those starting a game;

3. Those coming on from the bench.

The overall ratings are obviously skewed a little by the number of players receiving a rating after coming on for, in some cases, just a few minutes, and therefore unable to have the degree of influence they might have had, had they been on the pitch for longer.

Hence the reason I've broken the information down into the three distinct groups.

The ratings for those coming off the bench is an interesting one as it potentially shows how much of an impact certain players make as replacements (in the past Pete White was a classic example of someone who arguably had more influence coming on for the last 20-30 minutes of a game than he did when starting).

(I've not yet worked out how to transfer a file from Excel to the blog, it's not straightforward so there are a few problems with sizing the images - hopefully, it's clear enough though).

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So, here we go:

1. Overall player ratings up to, and including, last weekend's home game against Doncaster (Cup and League):

2. Overall player ratings for those starting a game up to, and including, last weekend's home game against Doncaster (Cup and League):

3. Overall player ratings for those coming off the bench up to, and including, last weekend's home game against Doncaster (Cup and League):

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Hopefully, the above might throw up a few points for discussion. I was a bit surprised, for example, that despite earning a lot of (deserved) praise and regular appearances in various 'teams of the week' etc, Will Wand doesn't feature quite so prominently as I'd imagined - but that could be down to three Premiership games in the first 8. Early days still and he's definitely put in stronger performances in the last couple of games, as the ratings confirm.

I'll keep it spreadsheet updated and publish the tables every three or four games.

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Players' ratings:

I could be wrong, I could be right

I could be black, I could be white

I could be right, I could be wrong

I could be white, I could be black

but remember...

...anger is energy...