Hartpury University RFC 17 Coventry Rugby 47 - Hartpury blown away as Cov breeze into 2nd place

And I know a howlin' wind runs through here

Blowin' every day.

Yeah a howlin' wind runs through here

Takes my breath away.

Swing time is here children, for large and small

Let's dance before the fever is upon us all.

Howlin' Wind - Graham Parker

Hartpury University - an institution with a recent history of excellence.

2023 -TEF: Gold Award.

2023 - Ofsted: Outstanding.

2024 - The Times Good University Guide: top 10 for teaching excellence.

But yesterday it was Coventry Rugby that provided the masterclass.

Hartpury were given a lesson in how to play the elements in a game that was certainly affected by a strong wind, even if the outcome wasn't ultimately decided by it.

Cov were much the better side, with or without the adverse weather conditions.

---

Hartpury's pitch is open to the elements on three sides, with no surrounding shelter of any significance, either natural or man-made.

If you were sitting in the stand, the wind would have been blowing left to right - I understand Hartpury opted to receive first, which in itself was an interesting decision.

There's seating there for some 450 people, although there were a lot of empty seats there during yesterday's game. The average gate, according to those marshalling the main entrance to the ground, is around 900, with yesterday's official figure being 1202, boosted by a good number of traveling Coventry supporters.

Apparently, students get in for free which will skew the numbers somewhat, the only exception to this being for the Gloucester game.

Despite being so exposed, it's a decent ground in which to watch a game of rugby nevertheless, with options to eat and drink inside and outside and there was also a particularly good coffee van doing a decent trade.

Josh did partake of a burger, local sourced apparently, in a brioche bap and the best of the season so far - so he reliably informed me.

It did look very good, I must say!

It's a great set up there, with several pitches and plenty of indoor training areas. There's always some heated debate when it comes to the involvement of university-based teams in sport at this level (as opposed to those representing the university) and, on a personal level, I do find it a little galling that so many of the facilities enjoyed by Hartpury University Rugby are, in effect, at least partially government funded.

That said, it didn't do them much good yesterday.

But in fairness to Hartpury, in recent years the university has been responsible for furthering the careers of many professional players, including internationals, with Ellis Genge probably being the most prominent of the current beneficiaries (Jonny May was another).

---

Coventry made the most of playing with the wind behind them in the first half, scoring five unanswered tries and going into the break 35-0 up. With Hartpury looking a shadow of the side who came to the BPA late last year, the game was all but over by then, even with Hartpury having the advantage in the second half.

Hartpury were poor.

Very poor indeed.

Their inability to apply any sort of sustained pressure on us made life far more comfortable for Cov than it really should have been. The home side persisted in trying to kick their way out of trouble, but with the wind ensuring that they were only able to make 15 or 20 metres at best, if that, Coventry then had the advantage of a lineout or possession from a missed kick to touch. 95% of play took place in the Hartpury half and at no time in those opening 40 minutes did they enter into our 22. They weren't able to threaten our line once. Not once.

Their tactics made little sense. I've no real rugby brain, but common sense tells me that if you are going to kick, you kick flat to minimise the effect of the head on breeze.

But time and time again, Hartpury opted to punt the ball skywards only to see it hold in the wind and make little ground. It defied logic and the only beneficiaries were the Coventry backs who made hay while the sun attempted to shine and the wind literally blew.

Under the high ball, Tobi Wilson is as assured as any player in the Championship and he was given far too much room to either link up with his forwards or spread the ball wide. Surely Hartpury would have known that in advance, so one can only assume that it was the inability of the Hartpury kickers to compensate for the force of the wind that was at fault, rather than the overall Hartpury game plan itself?

We stood close to Hartpury Head Coach, Mark Cornwell, who was standing on his own witnessing the debacle unfold in the opening 15-20 minutes and it was clear he was becoming increasingly frustrated with Hartpury's very one-dimensional approach.

4 tries down in just 14 minutes and with his side unable to get the ball out of their 22, it must have been a difficult watch. And to add insult to injury, Pat Pellegrini converted all five of those first half tries, although most were relatively straight-forward, or at least as straight-forward as they can be in such difficult kicking conditions.

In the first half, Alex Rae and Gordon Ross chose to watch the game from a slightly higher vantage point. They looked like two generals overlooking a battle unfold below between two distinctly ill-matched armies...

Not only was theirs was the perfect battle plan, they also had the better-prepared troops on the day. It must have given them immense satisfaction to see just how easily Cov were able to open up the Hartpury defence and how forwards and backs combined to make it a team performance, even if 4-try Will Wand did understandably make most of the headlines after the game.

It's hard to explain just how well Cov mastered the conditions. In the first half they kicked sensibly, without overusing it as an option, playing the ball into Hartpury's 22 and then letting the forwards rumble on or the backs take advantage of the home side's profligacy when attempting to clear their lines.

It was simply relentless; there was no respite for Harptury whatsoever in that first half. I don't think I can recall having seen such a one-sided opening first half in the last 20 years or so - even against Saracens back in 2020, and we lost that one 0-73! In what were difficult conditions in which to play an attacking game, Cov's handling was really good - something which definitely contributed to the team's dominance in that first half.

Despite some concerns pre-match amongst supporters as to how our scrum might fair against the impressive Benz-Soloman twins in the front row (on loan from Bristol), once again with Jordan Poole packing down between Toby Trinder and Adam Nicol (eek...corrected and apologies), the Coventry pack was in total command. They gave nothing away, putting the Hartpury scrum under a lot of pressure in the process, and although the line-out was slightly less secure than it has been in recent games, an inevitable result of a gusting wind, the set pieces gave us a big advantage.

Perhaps the only down side was the number of times we either got pinged by the referee at the break down or we lost possession. Fortunately, Hartpury weren't able to capitalise on the mistakes we did make but that still shouldn't detract from what was a very impressive all-round display.

Even with a 35-point advantage going into the second half, there was still the slight concern amongst the Coventry faithful that Hartpury could yet make things very uncomfortable for us with the wind in their favour.

We needn't have worried.

It was Cov who had learned most from those first 40 minutes, opting to pick and go rather than kick into the head wind as Hartpury had chosen to do, with the result that other than for a lone breakaway try by Hartpury, Cov continued to enjoy territorial dominance for the next 30 minutes despite playing into the wind (it did seem to die down a little the longer the half went on?).

Hartpury, though, appeared clueless at times, preferring to use the wind to hoof the ball deep into our half in the vain hope, rather than the expectation, that something would come of it. Twice they managed to kick the ball dead from 60 or 70+ metres out and in so doing provided Cov with further attacking options deep in their half.

Will Lane warming up before the game

Such was Coventry's dominance that after just 56 minutes, Alex Rae was able to bring on all 8 players from the bench over a two or three-minute period, knowing that the outcome of the game was already decided. Off went the entire front row, plus Nayalo, Nkwocha, Chudley, Pellegrini and Hitchcock - yet there was no obvious loss of tempo.

If anything, Will Lane managed to increase it further, firing short balls out left and right, drawing in defenders before releasing quick ball out wide.

Lane and Mitchell must get a little frustrated at times - both are very talented players and always put in a good shift when required. Keeping players of their quality happy whilst playing off the bench must be difficult at times. Yesterday we saw just what an important role they have to play - this was very much a whole squad performance and it's important Cov keep as many of these players together if they are build consistency and continuity into the team.

Hartpury did have a final hurrah, scoring two tries in the final few minutes giving the score a semblance of respectability, although they only managed to do so because of what looked initially to be a serious injury to Jack Bartlett. After making a rampageous 35 metre charge down the left wing, Jack appeared to be hurt in the ensuing tackle, with the crowd silenced after a cry of pain and an immediate stoppage in play.

Fortunately, JB could be seen on crutches after the game and although an ambulance was on hand, it wasn't needed. Speaking post-match on the radio, AR suggested that it might not be quite as bad as first feared and they'll have a closer look at it early this week to determine the appropriate treatment.

With all 8 players on the bench now used, Cov had to play with 14 for the final 10 minutes or so which allowed Hartpury to throw caution to the wind (quite literally), in the process scoring 12 unanswered points. Hopefully, it might have left them feeling that if they'd been a little more attack-minded earlier in the game, they might have made Cov work just a little bit harder for the 5 points.

Even then, Cov were still able to create opportunities themselves and the impressive Chester Owen enjoyed an eye-catching cameo including an explosive 30m run which created panic in the Hartpury defences.

There were plenty of smiling faces amongst the Coventry players as the final whistle blew. The home defeat to Hartpury back in early December (29-47) was without doubt the team's worst performance of the season.

Ironically, just as Coventry scored 35 points in the first half yesterday, so Hartpury scored 35 in the second half back then, 26 of which came in a 12-minute period which left everyone shell-shocked and brought Cov's unbeaten run of 15 matches to an end.

It was, in all honesty, a capitulation, and for Cov to respond in the way they did yesterday certainly exorcised many of the ghosts that had haunted Cov since, particularly at Ampthill and Caldy.

Cov are beginning to replicate the end of season run that saw them finish in the top three last season, but with that comes the inevitable concern that many of the players involved will come into the range of the radar of clubs currently int eh process of recruiting and with with far more resources than Cov - as indeed, Alex Rae hinted at after the game yesterday.

And so they should.

The next big test will be whether Cov can keep this group of players together long enough to reach the pinnacle of this league, with the loss of Rigg and Ryan in recent days and weeks showing just how hard this is going to be.

AR has maintained in the past that he will always try and replace those players exiting the club with players who are at least as good as them, if not better.

If that is the case again this year, then the future looks to be a very promising one indeed.

Up the Cov!

---