(Woah)
Woke up this mornin' closed in on all sides
Nothin' doin'
I feel resistance as I open my eyes
Someone's foolin'
Am I livin' in a box?
Am I livin' in a cardboard box?
Am I livin' in a box?
Am I livin' in a cardboard box?
Am I livin' in a box?
Living In A Box - Living In A Box
Before I begin, a request:
While I usually keep my personal life separate from the blog content, on this occasion I ask for forgiveness to those reading this post for this slight intrusion.
And it comes in the form of a request...
During the last few months, in line with the achievements of Coventry Rugby Club, the blog's popularity has grown exponentially. And whilst much of what I've written has been extremely positive, I've also not been shy of writing the odd controversial post on occasions. Such posts have often proved divisive and have unintentionally caused some angst amongst those following the blog.
It has now come to the point that stewards at the club on a match day are unable to ensure my safety, and that of my family, in our current seating location within the main stand.
Therefore, I am reaching out to enquire whether any regular readers of this blog would be open to donating a box in the main stand for me, my three children who live locally, and their six children.
Of course, I understand that this is a significant request, but recent national discussions have shed light on the challenges faced by those in the public eye in large sporting arenas. I have made promises to my family that I will continue to take them to all home games and this seems the most effective way of so doing.
Of course, should anyone come to my aid, I will be open and transparent about any support offered and disclose it to all relevant authorities. I'm also more than happy to provide advertising space free of charge within the blog as an incentive should this be appropriate.
Many thanks for your understanding and cooperation in this delicate matter.
Back to the rugby, then, and the first home game of the season.
And what a corker it is, too - against Bedford no less.
In many respects, The Blues is a very similar club to Coventry with a very long history behind it, sharing the same traditional values as Coventry and boasting a sizeable fan base, too. Bedford's supporters are always friendly and, like those at Cov, they're never shy of showing their allegiance during a game either...
Coventry has a pretty good track record against the Blues in recent seasons and enjoyed the double over them last year, scoring 88 points in the process and conceding just 38 (54-19 at home in April and 19-34 down at Goldington Road in January). Bedford finished fourth in the table last season, just a place behind us and their predilection to play open, attacking rugby makes them a very enjoyable team to watch for the neutral and a very dangerous one for their rival supporters.
Reviewing Cov's match day squad from last weekend's game against London Scottish, it appears Rae has narrowed down his selection to about 27 or 28 players. Therefore, the squad for the upcoming game against the Blues may not differ significantly, even if he decides to tweak the starting XV slightly.
Poole will return when fit at the expense of loanee Jasper Sandler, and Robson, Green, Hitchcock, Henry and Salt will surely all feature before too long. I think of those, Hitchcock would be the likeliest to start in the back line as soon as he's available, along with perhaps Charlie Robson at full back.
Tommy Mathews looks like he'll be out for a while following his injury in the pre-season game against Birmingham Moseley, presumably leaving Mannion, Biggs and Ogden waiting a while longer for their opportunity.
Rae opted for a 6/2 split on the bench against Scottish last weekend and this was shown to be a solid call given that Coventry relied on the power and physicality of their forwards to grind down a Scottish pack that certainly matched them in terms of physical size, if not in technical ability.
Whereas last season with all the possession and control we enjoyed for much of the game against Scottish, we would have expected a bigger contribution from the backs, certainly in terms of tries scored, against Scottish it was very much the forwards that dominated. Saturday should give us a further indication as to whether this season Cov will be quite as expansive as they were last year - the absence of the spine of the back division this time around - Chudley, Pellegrini, Wand, Rigg and Wilson - is a huge loss and no matter how promising those recruited over the summer are, it's not going to be quite the same until they have time to bed in at the very least.
A quick tally of tries scored in the previous campaign shows that of the 120 tries scored in 25 games, 77 (or 67%) came via the backs and just 43 from the forwards. Whether that can be repeated this season remains to be seen but in order for that to happen, the likes of Hutler and Martin will have to see a far more ball than they did last weekend.
I'm expecting the game to be a little more open than it was on Saturday given Bedford's preference for a far more fluid, expansive style of rugby. Here's hoping, although that said, a win based on four catch and drives from a few metres out will do me fine, too!
Arguably, a fourth-placed finish represented an over-achievement for Blues last season given they still remain a semi-professional set-up (full-time Doncaster finished 6th) and at home we have to be favourites. But both sides have lost key players and, so early in the season, there's little in the way of form to base predictions on.
However, four of the summer acquisitions for Bedford, all of whom had standout games against Caldy last Saturday apparently, are well known to Coventry supporters - namely, Fred Tuilaga, Louis James, George Smith and Lucas Titherington.
And there's always Will Maisey of course who continues to score points from his trusted left foot with unerring accuracy.
Now I appreciate a team's performance is far more than just the sum of its parts, but I'm not sure that any of those 5 would have started many games for Cov last season. Smith probably would have been on the bench behind Nkwocha and Tyas, Titherington might have been called up had there been injuries to Wand/Rigg and Hitchcock (although he arrived mid-way through the season) and Tuilaga wouldn't have featured imho. I'm not sure Maisey would have been ahead of even Mitchell either but that might be being a bit hard on Will as he seldom has a poor game.
Alex Woolford, who didn't feature last weekend but was a Cov regular under Rowland Winter would have seen little game time at all and Joe Jones, who played for Cov in 2021/22, again would have had little impact on the season once Trinder, Nairau, Salt and Nicol were all fit.
This year, well the jury's out, and maybe one or two of those would have found themselves a place in the match day squads. the coaches have brought in players with plenty of potential and the initial signs are promising but we certainly have yet to see the backs fire on all cylinders.
However, the squad remains strong and I'm not sure how much stronger it would be with the addition of any/all of these players, good as they all are. I appreciate that's the proverbial kiss of death but Cov should have enough to beat Bedford at home, although I do think it will be a lot closer than the game against Blues back in April.
The crowd will also have its part to play. Rae and the players have been at pains to stress just what an impact it can have when it gets behind the team and roars on the players as it so often does. However, currently (pm 25/9) there are still a lot of seats available in the main stand so it might be that we'll struggle to match the 3700 plus who watched Cov put 54 points past Bedford just 5 months ago.
A strong performance last weekend will help, as will having Bedford as the opposition given its reputation for playing such free-flowing rugby, but much will depend on the number of seasons tickets sold so far (I get the feeling its down a little but have heard nothing officially?) and the weather too.
Cov's first home game of the season last year, against Caldy, attracted a gate of 2611, significantly below the 3000 plus average for the season and I'm guessing it won't be much over that, although I hope I'm proved wrong. Still, that's more than enough to create a decent atmosphere - many of the current squad have yet to play in front of a raucous BPA so I'm hoping that will give the new players an added lift and make life that little bit harder for Bedford.
So, the boys are back in town at last and hopefully by then I'll be enjoying the game from a secure box somewhere above the main stand.
Come on y'all, make some noise...
Comments