Coventry Rugby squad 2023-24 - it's a new day, it's a new dawn

It's a new dawn It's a new day It's a new life for me, yeah... Fish in the sea, you know how I feel River running free, you know how I feel Blossom on the tree, you know how I feel

It's a new dawn It's a new day It's a new life, for me And I'm feeling good

Feeling Good - Nina Simone

From what I heard on the grapevine at the BPA on Saturday, the 2023/24 squad is pretty much all in place now. No real surprise that, given this season is all but done and dusted.

No names of players newly recruited as yet though, but that won't happen anyway until the parent clubs have officially announced their departures, something over which Cov has little control.

A question of patience then.

Something I'm not blessed with, if truth be told.

This is always an exciting time in the rugby calendar, a frustrating one certainly, but also one full of anticipation as we await official news from the club as to who will be coming in to replace those whose departures we already know of.

(Whoops - finished off a sentence with a preposition there. O me miserum - my old English teacher would have been mortified!).

Sadly, there are some experienced players leaving us this season, players who have helped drive the club forward and who will be greatly missed. That said, Alex Rae and his team did wonders this time last year, bringing in players who might not have been known to many, but who have collectively taken the club to new heights.

A repeat of last year's recruitment and there'll be much to look forward to next season.

A new dawn, a new day. And I'm feeling good.

Take it away, Nina.

For the first time in many a season, Coventry Rugby released the names of the players leaving the club in one announcement and a good few weeks earlier than many of us were expecting. Usually, information of this nature filters out through social media rather than the official channels, something that often leads to uncertainty, with the club then having to hastily make it official - often a case of being reactive rather than proactive.

This time Cov gauged the mood of the supporters perfectly, and in so doing presented them with the ideal opportunity to say their farewells at the final home game of the season last weekend. Hopefully, such was the success of the post-match celebrations on Saturday, this will become the norm.

The original statement on the club's official website indicated there were nine leavers in total ('With a combined total of over 250 caps for the club, Coventry Rugby will pay tribute to the contribution made by the nine senior players...') but it then went on to list only eight names: Joe Snow, Tom Dodd, Adam Peters, Rhys Thomas, Louis Brown, Josh Bainbridge, Jake Bridges and Will Talbot-Davies.

Ollie Stone (c) with his framed shirt

All was explained on Saturday when in addition to the 8 players named above, Ollie Stone also received a framed shirt, suggesting he was the missing 9th player.

Or does it?

If all nine are 'senior' players, then Ollie Stone wouldn't be included as he's still very much an Academy/Development player, or at least I think he is. Indeed, the website also includes him in the Development section, although that might just be a case of it having not been updated.

(Apologies are needed here - I tend to interchange the words 'Academy' and 'Development' - I'm not quite sure which is the correct one to use these days. It always used to be Academy, but somewhere along the line, Development was introduced???).

I guess we'll have to wait for further clarification on that one, but given Ollie is definitely going, then both the props who have come through the Academy in the last couple of seasons have moved on which is a great shame (Jake Bridges being the other). However, given the very nature of the position, at this level the demands made on the body probably require someone playing regularly in the front row to be physically closer to their peak, rather than a player who's in his late teens or very early 20s and still growing?

Fresh out of the Academy, it would have to be someone showing exceptional talent to hold down a regular place in the first team in the Championship. Luc Jeannot probably would have done but for a series of injuries which put his career on hold (reinforcing the earlier point about the physical demands), but for any young prop wanting to get plenty of game time, with only one regular side Cov might not be the most attractive proposition?

And as an aside, but still on the subject of those leaving/remaining - I'm not altogether sure why Cov continue to make a big thing of the re-signings on Twitter and other social media platforms. If the list of players leaving this summer is complete, by definition anyone not included is staying, surely? Unless, I'm missing the point somewhere along the line, which of course wouldn't be for the first time.

The only explanation I can come up with and, 'fessing up here, this is plagiarised from a conversation I had Paul I, it does ensure that interest in the coming season remains high. By advertising re-signings, the club can reinforce its promotion of season tickets, thus helping to keep it very much in the public domain.

Such announcements are often amusing and well produced, but now that we know who is staying, the countdown to any announcement doesn't carry quite the same anticipation.

Anyway...I thought I'd try and second guess where the gaps in the current squad are now that we know who is and isn't leaving. This isn't very scientific and in the absence of a great deal of reliable information, I might need to add an addendum or two if I've missed off a couple of names here and there.

I know this kind of activity is not for everyone, but it's just the sort of thing supporters of the round ball game do up and down the country over a pint or two in the pub every Friday or Saturday evening, so if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me - all of which might sound a bit Dodgy...

I just find it interesting to speculate and, hopefully, enter into a dialogue - one that's not killed by sarcasm or arrogance. No one knows, but there's no harm in guessing.

Anyway, here's my list of players (by position) who, as of now, will be with us for the season 2023/24.

I reckon it's going to be there or thereabouts - but, please, do feel free to leave a comment if I've made a c@ck up, though:

Full Back

Tobi Wilson (thanks to Paul/Richard s for that one!)

Wings

James Martin

Centres

Ollie Betteridge

Louis James

Will Rigg

Lucas Titherington

Will Wand

Fly Half

Evan Mitchell

Pat Pellegrini

Scrum Half

Will Chudley

Will Lane

Fin Ogden

Back Row

Tom Ball

Seniki Nayalo

Paddy Ryan - announced 02/05/23

Second Row

George Smith

James Tyas

Hooker

Will Biggs

Jason Poole

Suva Ma'asi

Front Row

Ollie Andrews

Eliot Salt (tighthead) - announced 27/04/23

Harry Seward

Toby Trinder

23 names in total.

Under the previous Head Coach, the policy was to have at least two players in every position, with more availability where possible in the front and back rows.

If I go with something along those lines, then at the moment Cov are probably short of:

• 3 in the front row,

• 2 in the second row,

• 2-4 in the back row, bearing in mind they could also double up in the second row (as both James Tyas and Adam Peters have done so successfully this season - although I'm basing that on Tyas originally being a back rower as he was when Coventry originally tried to sign him (probably pre-Rowland Winter then, though?),

• 2 out on the wing (although Louis James has already played out wide this season)

• 1-2 at full back (allowing additional cover in the centres or on the wing)

By my reckoning, that's a maximum of 13 players to come in.

However, Danny Southworth and James Kenny are on loan from Exeter - so there might be a chance we can keep one or both or arrange another similar loan (both have been re-signed by Exeter - ta, Paul). Marijn Huis, the huge Dutch international, was badly injured pre-season - he might still be on the books and if so would count as one of the second rows required.

In addition, David Opoku (wing), George Hallam (back row), Leo Jowett (centre), Ray Kanyasa (second row) and Sam Peppit (full back) will all have had at least a year in the Academy so it might be that one or two of those youngsters are seen as potential replacements, all be it inexperienced ones. James, Betteridge, Mitchell and Ball are all examples of just how effective such a policy can be.

There's also Theodore Mannion to consider too, of course, although I believe he's an out and out 10

It's certainly an option if Alex Rae wants to beef up the front and second rows with some seasoned, and potentially more costly, ex-Premiership/Championship players. The backs look to be strong both in terms of ability and numbers, so thinking out loud here, I would hazard a fairly uneducated but obvious guess and say that it's going to be in the forwards that we see most business being done.

If I were a gambling man, I'd stick my neck out and say we can expect to see 11-12 players coming in, not including the next cohort of Academy players, but that really is very much speculation on my part.

At this time of the season, it's always an interesting exercise even if I've not exactly employed the most reasoned of approaches to get to this number!

It might be that I'm out of sync here and that there other areas of the team that need strengthening, even if there are players there already, or maybe it's the coaching side of things that needs additional support (especially if the rumours in TRP on Sunday that Ed Robinson looks to be off to Gloucester are correct).

Whatever the permutations, the post is simply meant as a bit of a distraction whilst waiting for the Bedford game - hopefully, it might provide something similar for others, too.

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