Regrets collect like old friends
Here to relive your darkest moments
I can see no way, I can see no way
And all of the ghouls come out to play
And every demon wants his pound of flesh
But I like to keep some things to myself
I like to keep my issues drawn
It's always darkest before the dawn
Shake it out, shake it out
Shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa oh...
...and it's hard to dance with a devil on your back, so shake him off
Ooh whoa oh
Shake It Out - Florence and the Machine
So far, this season has been a little disappointing if I'm totally honest.
Yes, there have been a few highs, moments of real exhilaration. The Premiership Cup games and the wins against Doncaster, Bedford and Nottingham in the Championship immediately spring to mind.
At times, Cov has played some wonderful, attacking rugby, rugby that has been a delight to watch.
As a result, home attendances have been at an all-time high as supporters recognise just what an attractive brand of rugby is on offer down at the BPA these days.
But there have also been some lows.
Too many really.
Defeats against Ampthill, Ealing, Hartpury, Pirates and Caldy mean that we've already lost more games than we did in the whole of last season.
That in itself is a worry, but for me it's the manner of those defeats that causes the most concern, but more on that a little later.
A current win rate of just 55%, against 77% for that of last season (as well as the very creditable draw against eventual champions Jersey Reds), shows a) just what an exceptional season 2022/23 was and b) how far off that sort of form we currently are.
There's been a lot of frustration voiced by many fans both during games and on social media about Coventry's unwillingness to accumulate easy points, declining 'kickable' penalties in favour of kicking to touch and going for a potential seven points rather than the more likely three.
Whilst there is a debate to be had, and it would be interesting to hear Jordan Poole's reasons for making such on-field decisions, I do think discussions of this nature mask what, for me, appears to be the real problem, namely Coventry's 2nd half performances which have been consistent in their inconsistency.
Ok, I accept there have been a couple of close games where an extra three points or so might have made a difference. But, far more importantly, there have been 8 Championship games this season (of the 11 played) where the opposition has outscored Cov in the second half, a fact that that has certainly impacted far more on Coventry's performances this season than a few decisions as whether to go for goal or not.
I'm very grateful to Trevor Hindson here who did me a big favour by trawling through this season's results to produce the following data after I tweeted an observation on what was something of a capitulation in the final 20 minutes of Cov's last game against Caldy
Games this season in which Coventry Rugby has been outscored in the second half
Opposition | Full-time score | Second-half score |
Ampthill (A) | 34-27 | 20-17 |
Ealing Trailfinders (A) | 31-13 | 24-5 |
Hartpury (H) | 29-47 | 17-33 |
Cambridge (A) | 19-33 | 19-7 |
London Scottish (A) | 38-40 | 21-12 |
Bedford (A) | 19-34 | 7-6 |
Cornish Pirates (H) | 19-21 | 12-14 |
Caldy (A) | 26-22 | 14-3 |
As a supporter watching from the stand, it's hard to put a finger on what the causes for this are; I'm sure they're not altogether straightforward and far beyond my very limited understanding of technicalities of the game.
Spot a problem I can, find a solution definitely not. I know noone likes a smartarse and I'm certainly not trying to be one - it's just what stands out most for me above anything else with regard to Coventry this season.
After such a successful first season at the helm, Alex Rae was always likely to find this year far tougher as clubs have now had more than enough time to analyse Cov's performances, work out its strengths and weaknesses across all phases of play and develop their own gameplans accordingly.
Certainly, injuries to the front row haven't helped and with the return of Adam Nichol and, hopefully, Toby Trinder before too long, this shouldn't be such a factor over the remainder of the season. But even so, that doesn't explain why we seem to be struggling in the second half quite as much as we are.
On paper, the bench often looks to be strong, filled with players who have regularly started, with plenty of Championship and even Premiership experience amongst them, so it isn't just a case of new players coming in and having to hit the ground running.
Fitness shouldn't be an issue either. With a full-time squad and a full-time support staff to monitor and assess the players, I can't imagine the players aren't match fit.
Maybe it's something to do with confidence, or a lack thereof, perhaps. Mentality rather than physicality? Hopefully, whatever the reasons, they've been identified and are now being addressed in readiness for the second half of what has been a fairly challenging season so far.
Currently lying fifth in the table, Cov are the lowest placed 'fully' professional club in the Championship. A third-place finish last season saw us ahead of Bedford, Doncaster and Pirates but we are now below them in the table and have still to travel to Pirates and Doncaster for what will be particularly difficult games.
What has been a singularly disappointing aspect to the season so far has been the way in which Cov has struggled against some of the lower placed clubs
Of the bottom six sides, we've so far lost to Caldy, Ampthill and Hartpury, narrowly beaten Scottish (they missed a penalty to win with the last play of the game) and allowed Cambridge back into a game that looked done and dusted by half time.
Coventry's last game, away to Caldy, was yet another example of Coventry's second half travails. Leading 19-12 at half-time, Cov could only manage 3 further points as the home side began to look the stronger, scoring two tries to earn a deserved win. A comment on the National League Rugby Discussion Forum, albeit from a Caldy supporter, offered an interesting perspective to the game:
'Caldy have a decently big set of forwards but Coventry brought monsters to Paton Field today and in the first half mutant power prevailed. 12-19 at half time. The second half was dominated by the home team who out thought and out fought Coventry to pick up a well deserved bonus point win.
When the chips were down Coventry didn't look much like a team just a collection of powerful individuals...Caldy defended ferociously and played the better attacking rugby'
'A collection of powerful individuals' is a tad unfair, but clearly that's how it came across to this observer.
In fairness, Cov hasn't always looked as cohesive in the final 20 or so and whatever the reason for the team's current defensive frailties and its inability to turn territorial dominance into points on the board, hopefully the break will have given the coaches the opportunity to work through any problems as they see them with the players and address the issues accordingly.
So not a great first half to the season but, as Florence is so keen to point out, 'it's always darkest before the dawn...'.
After attendances totalling close to 8000 in the last two home games, consecutive defeats to Pirates and Caldy probably mean that momentum has been lost. Throw a gap of over four weeks since Cov last played at the BPA into the mix and I think it's fair to assume that there will be a significant dip in the numbers attending on Saturday as Ampthill come to town. Anything over 3000 would be a positive as Ampthill aren't ever going to pull in the crowds as perhaps Bedford, Pirates or Nottingham will, even when the Cov are on a winning streak.
Ticket sales currently look down on recent games but with a few days still to go and with Coventry Rugby doing its thing on the socials, hopefully there will be an upturn and the ground will be buzzing again come 2.30 pm on Saturday.
An uptake over the last 24/48 hours has been noticeable, so fingers crossed they'll be a large and vociferous crowd to get behind the players and spurr them on to a big and decisive win. It's certainly needed.
A loss to The Mob on Saturday would be a real blow - the first team to do the 'double' against us in a couple of seasons would be disappointing enough, but for it to be Ampthill, well that would be doubly so. Ampthill regularly manage to 'do a job' on us over at their place (last season being a notable exception) and for those who regularly travel to away games, it's never top of the list of grounds to visit.
Complacency is a dangerous thing and one should never take a win against any team in this league for granted, but Ampthill at home is one of those games where you'd be disappointed to come off second best. Saturday is a time for the squad to demonstrate that whilst results haven't always been what we might have hoped for so far this season, the next ten games will show Coventry supporters exactly what this set of players is capable of achieving.
Will Rigg might have left for hopefully bigger and better things, but in Tom Hitchcock we appear to have signed, albeit for the remainder of this season only, a natural replacement. And despite some obvious concerns, there have been many positives to come out of the season so far - Pellegrini tops the Championship individual points table, Martin and Hutler are proving themselves to be a real threat in attack, the lineout at last is far, far more reliable and the scrum looks more and more solid by the week.
If it all comes together on Saturday, the crowd will certainly be entertained.
And by the sound of it, there will be a good few changes to the food and drink outlets around the ground, too.
As far back as four weeks ago, Cov had begun to implement improvements designed to address some of moans coming from supporters about the match day experience, especially the long queues and lack of choice when purchasing refreshments.
It's be something of a longstanding problem but at last the club is tackling it head on, rather than tinkering around with minor changes.
The photos (left) were taken whilst waiting for the coach to Caldy, three weeks ago, so I imagine there have been further alterations since then - certainly the intention is to extend the marque to somewhere close to the current club shop which would significantly increase the number of guests to the pre-match hospitality events (and thus provide a hefty increase in match day revenues).
It won't leave everyone happy, I'm sure, but the club has shown itself willing to listen and to do what it can on a limited budget to keep the majority of its punters satisfied at the very least.
And that will include me, too, once I'm allowed to bring in my smashed jackfruit and tofu sandwich, together with a banana bread protein bar (and vacuum flask of steaming hot turmeric latte, of course) and the bag searches are there purely to safeguard spectators and players rather than threatening to deny anyone entry for bringing in a can of soda and a bottle of water, as has happened in the past.
If this were a mid-term school report, then it would be the standard 'could do better'. But with results dropping somewhat from the dizzy heights of last season, then (to continue the analogy) somewhere in the dark and dingy server rooms in the depths of Ofsted HQ, algorithms would be in full flow, red flags would be flying, valued added would be registering negative values and inspectors would be looking closely to see if Cov Rugby 'requires improvement'.
'Could do better' perhaps ought to be 'should do better' in the light of 22/23, but then we really were spoiled rotten back then.
Come on, Cov, time to 'shake it out'...
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