Gloucester 32 - Coventry Rugby 31 - a 'no tears shed day' as Cov fly Championship flag yet again

And the people bowed and prayed

To the neon god they made

And the sign flashed out its warning

In the words that it was forming

And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls

In tenement halls"

And whispered in the sounds of silence

The Sound of Silence - Simon and Garfunkel

Simon Halliday, the recently elected Chairman of Championship Rugby, has been responsible for a couple of prophetic warnings, the most notable of which is that the second tier of English Rugby will go its own way if the RFU refuses to consult with it over proposed changes to its current structure and funding.

And whilst Bill Sweeney appears to continue to bow down before the 'neon god' the RFU helped create in the guise of the PRL, over at Kingsholm Coventry sent out a clear message as to the quality and potential in the Championship that Sweeney and his acolytes seem so determined to alienate once and for all.

The Shed, probably the best known and most hostile of stands to play in front of within the Premiership, was yesterday reduced to virtual silence for sustained periods of the game.

For the third time in the Premiership Cup this season, Coventry showed its Premiership opposition that the gap in quality between the two tiers has been further reduced. Coventry once again selected a relatively young squad for the most part and at times there was very little, if any, difference in quality between the two sides, this despite all the obvious advantages involved in being part of a Premiership set up.

What was clear to everyone who was privileged enough to be at Kingsholm was that despite the derisory funding currently provided to Championship clubs, a group of young players with the potential to progress further within the sport will excel when given the opportunity to learn alongside experienced players like Chudley, Kvesic and Nayola.

Yet, Sweeney remains reluctant to even acknowledge this is happening, let alone help fund it.

How much more could be achieved with funding for the Championship that was a fair reflection of the work being done to promote these players, as well as the game generally within the wider community?

The whole thing stinks and it is small wonder that there is so much discord within the sport as a whole when you look at how it is being managed at the highest level.

Apologies - I'm starting to veer towards rant mode again.

Back to the game yesterday.

I don't think I've ever seen so many smiling Cov fans leaving a ground after a defeat.

All you can ever ask of anyone, either as an individual or as part of a team, is to give their all. If they've done that, then there can be no complaints.

And to a man, Cov did just that.

It was as near a herculean performance as you could ever wish to see and the many Coventry fans who had made the journey down the M5 recognised exactly that.

In the past, there always been that nagging concern that against opposition from a higher league, Cov would somehow freeze and fail to produce their best. For supporters, just as much as it is for players, it's about wanting to feel pride in a performance, about hoping that at the end of the game opposition fans will, however grudgingly, be forced into acknowledging that they were surprised at just how well we'd played.

More than that, it's also about wanting the players to do themselves justice - week in, week out, they become something akin to family and their disappointments become our own and vice versa.

Standing in The Shed yesterday, the change in the mood of the Gloucester supporters over the course of the 80 plus minutes was almost palpable. The acknowledgment was there.

Increasingly loud and vociferous as 1.00 pm grew ever closer, those in The Shed were temporarily silenced as Will Chudley did what Will Chudley does, exploiting a gap no one else had seen to dot down under the posts within 3 minutes.

When Gloucester then scored a couple of tries to take a 12-7 lead, the noise levels rose again, but once James Martin hit the afterburners to outsprint two Gloucester defenders to touch down in the corner to level the scores, it became clear that Coventry weren't going to lie down. As the reality hit the partisan crowd, so it became quieter and far less intimidating as a result.

Gloucester went into the half-time break just 17-12 up but even then they'd almost conceded in the final play of the first half when Tiki was adjudged to have been held up over the line.

During the interval, a few Gloucester supporters around us were generous in their praise of Coventry, surprised at just how organised defensively we were and, despite the obvious concerns at the scrum, impressed by the way the forwards had fronted up to the Gloucester pack.

In the opening minutes of the second half, despite seeing plenty of ball, Gloucester were unable to break down a stubborn and resilient Coventry defence, reminiscent of the stories of the Romans defending the Pons Sublicius against the Etruscan hoards.

And for me, yesterday Tiki was our very own Horatio. Immense in both attack and defence, he and Matt Kvesic tackled themselves into the ground, leading by example and reducing the unified voice of the Shed to individual shakes of the head and cries of frustration.

Such was the effectiveness of Coventry's defence, in the 55th minute Gloucester opted for the 3 points when 17-12 up rather than take the ubiquitous kick to the corner. I don't imagine that had been in the script but then again, neither had Coventry's ability to repel Gloucester's forwards to be fair.

20-12 soon became 27-12 and the warning sides were there. Gloucester looked the stronger side again and confidence was high. With 20 minutes to go, I admit I feared the worst. The Shed had found its voice once more and with the ground buzzing in anticipation, suddenly it felt like it was going to be a very long and difficult final quarter. The one bonus point needed to ensure Gloucester's route into the playoffs was secure and there seemed little left to play for.

I should have had more faith.

Three unanswered tries saw Coventry storm into the lead with just 4 minutes of the game remaining.

And it was very much a deserved lead.

5 tries against Premiership opposition. Who'd have thought, eh?

Cov dominated those last twenty minutes, both territorially and in terms of possession. Gloucester looked unable to nullify Coventry's attacking options which came both from forwards and backs alike. The crowd were silenced yet again and there was a growing sense of admiration for a Coventry side that refused to lie down and accept what had looked inevitable after Gloucester scored their 4th try of the game.

In the end, the bubble burst. Gloucester's power in their set piece proved our undoing as we all feared it would. The 8th and final penalty conceded from a scrum on half way was to seal our fate as Gloucester went for the corner, Suva Maa'si was yellow carded and after 79 minutes and 30 seconds of a pulsating game, Gloucester went over to take the points and steal the spoils of what would have been one of Coventry's most memorable wins in recent years.

Yesterday's result, tough to take as it was, is yet another of the building blocks on which Coventry's future is being supported.

On it's own, whilst it will long be remembered by those who were at Kingsholm yesterday, the game counts for little. But for those players who took part, the experiences gained will be immeasurable when next confronted with this sort of opposition. Away against Ealing, Doncaster or Bedford in the coming months, to have endured this sort of pressure and to have come out of it not just relatively unscathed but with so many positives, will mean they can be confident in their own abilities both individually, as a squad of players and as a team out on the pitch. The players took the game to a side as strong as any we will encounter this coming season.

And we know we will get be stronger too.

Happy days.

There were plenty of positives to come out of the game. Cov now has its own version of South Africa's 'bomb squad', with Alex Rae changing the entire front row after 45 minutes. If anything, Chilvers, Maa'si and Ford faired slightly better in the scrums than the starting trio of Trinder, Poole and Salt. It's a long time since we've had those sort of options, up front even if Ford is only here whilst Andrews recovers from a not-too-serious ankle injury.

All eight of the bench played a big part in Coventry's dramatic final 20 minutes. I thought Kvesic was immense, but when he left after 58 minutes, Tom Ball did a sterling job too. And Nayalo was replaced after just 48 minutes, suggesting that Ball and Bartlett should be able to take some of the pressure off the very broad shoulders of Kvesic and Nayalo and hopefully enable Alex Rae to manage his senior players' game time to the team's advantage whilst also prolonging their time left in the game.

Titherington slotted in straight away and combinations of him, Wand and Rigg make for a really strong midfield. Hutler and Martin are first choice wingers, period, with both looking to be in excellent form pre-season. I still believe Hutler could yet be our best acquisition this season, even including Kvesic - big, strong and quick, he'll cause all sorts of problems for Championship defences so long as he stays injury free.

Yes, we lost and that shouldn't be forgotten. I don't want to be someone who is known for celebrating failure, but in this instance the manner of the loss and the fact that Gloucester were clearly spooked by the control we showed at times has to be recognised. Yes, they were missing several internationals, but it's worth pointing out that last weekend Gloucester put out two sides, one in the Premiership Cup and one against the Barbarians.

They won both games. Such is the extraordinary depth of their squad.

To be beating Gloucester with just 30 seconds of play remaining in from of 8000 plus supporters having scored five tries shows the improvements this squad has already made under Alex Rae.

At home, against the Saracens side that won the Championship back in 2021, would we now fair better than the 0-73 loss back then?

With the changes in the squad, under the new coaches regime and with a couple of years of added experience, yes I think we would. Self-belief is a major factor in a team's success and this squad, under Alex Rae, is beginning to have the look of a team that expects to win games and isn't intimidated by any opposition. We'd lose for sure, but I do think we'd make Saracens work a lot harder for their win than perhaps we did back then.

When we play Ealing this season, home and away, it will be the opposition who are fearful, not us.

And that will give us a Shed load of an advantage...

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