London Scottish v Coventry Rugby: the pipes, the pipes are calling...

I don't care if Monday's blue

Tuesday's gray and Wednesday too

Thursday I don't care about you

It's Friday I'm in love

Monday you can fall apart

Tuesday Wednesday break my heart

Thursday doesn't even start

It's Friday I'm in love

Friday I'm In Love - The Cure

And so we move inexorably on to the first Championship game of the season, against London Scottish at the RAG,

and with it that enduring belief at this time of the year that the campaign ahead will always be that much better than the one before.

Until relatively recently, that wasn't difficult given those lean years between Coventry's relegation from Courage National One in 1988 (the first year of the national leagues) and the replacement of Phil Maynard and Scott Morgan with Rowland Winter in 2016.

Okay, there were a few highs in there, particularly in the mid 90s, but for much of that period being a supporter of Coventry Rugby was often a labour of love.

After achieving third place in the past two seasons, expecting further improvement in the club's final standing next May is a significant challenge. And whilst there are obviously other factors to consider when evaluating Coventry's progress in the season ahead, there are those supporters who will prioritise success based on this primary criterion alone.

Ealing Trailfinders are once again clear favourites (in my eyes anyway) to win the league and potentially earn a deserved place amongst the elite of English rugby and they already seem to have hit their stride with some standout results in their pre-season games against Bath and Cardiff.

However, they are there to be beaten and have in the past shown some vulnerability away from home (notably at Caldy, Scottish, Pirates and Cov) which makes a surprise defeat always a possibility. There are two or three other clubs, of which Cov is one, that are waiting in the wings ready to take full advantage should Ealing slip up and it's worth remembering that had Cov themselves not lost a little surprisingly against Caldy and Ampthill (away) and Hartpury at home, then we could have taken the top spot last season.

Hope, as eloquently expressed by Pope, always 'springs eternal in the human breast', and a Coventry fan is never hopeless, but 'always to be blessed'. It is the lot of all Cov fans to be favoured with an unwavering spirit of optimism.

While I don't think for a minute that Pope was projecting himself into the future and putting himself in the shoes of loyal Cov fans who have faced so many disappointments against London clubs in the past, his subsequent lines effectively capture the emotions many supporters experience when making the journey to the capital to watch Cov play away games against any opposition, even during the club's more successful periods...

'The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home,

Rests and expatiates in a life to come.'

In short, away from fortress BPA, many Cov supporters (or at least those who have watched Cov on their travels over the last 15-20 years) still feel very nervy no matter who they're facing.

It's possible that our season will ultimately be determined by our performance in away games, especially considering the results at home during Alex Rae's tenure in the last eighteen months. Starting a new campaign with a Friday evening match at RAG under lights is one of the more challenging opening fixtures we've faced in a while. Results against the Exiles away from home have often been tight in recent seasons, with Scottish both winning and losing games in the final play.

For example, only last season, Connor Slevin, on loan from Harlequins, failed to convert a seemingly easy penalty from 40m away to secure the victory for Scottish in the 83rd minute. Luckily, his kick missed the target, and Cov managed to secure a hard-earned 38-40 victory.

You never quite know what you're going to get on the road with Cov; if they can show greater consistency on their travels they'll certainly be in contention in the run in for sure.

Despite Robert Smith's love of Fridays, I'm not a great fan of watching Cov on a Friday evening, either home or away. Evening fixtures never have quite the same atmosphere for me, although I appreciate there are many who prefer watching a game under the lights. It's one of the reasons why I was disappointed to learn that the final pre-season game against Chinnor last week had been scheduled for a Friday evening (that and the fact I was unable to make it, being somewhere mid-air over the Atlantic).

It seems like Cov's preparation for Friday's game couldn't have been more ideal. Was it due to their inside knowledge of the Championship fixtures or just a fortunate coincidence? The Chinnor game was announced around July 11th, while the Championship fixtures were only publicised on July 22nd. My assumption is that Cov (and the other Championship clubs) received prior information well in advance of the 22nd but whether or not they did, it's certainly helped in the build-up to the game.

Playing against Scottish away from home so early in the season may or may not work in our favour. If Scottish are still a semi-professional set-up at this point, then the intense training that Coventry's fully professional squad has undergone over the past 12 weeks should give us a fitness advantage. However, it is likely that the home team won't be at quite such a disadvantage with the inclusion of several Harlequins players.

It will be interesting to see who is in Rae's 22 for this first game of the 24/25 campaign. There's arguably more competition for places in this current squad than at any time since our arrival into the Championship in 2018 and there must have been some disappointed faces when the team list was made known to the players this week.

Of the players who didn't start against Moseley, Poole, Johnson, Salt, Warren, Tyas, Green, Hinkley, Okeke, Hitchcock, Hutler and Robson must all be under serious consideration with Lane and Ogden good bets to be on the bench, too.

It has to be the strongest set of replacements we've seen in recent years surely, whatever the combinations chosen? In the two pre-season friendlies we appear to have taken the foot of the accelerator in the second half a little, especially against Chinnor, but I just don't see that happening on Friday with so much at stake and with so many players to come on with points to prove in terms of not getting the nod originally.

With Ealing away to Pirates in Round Two, a defeat there for the visitors there could see things open up a little early on if we can beat Scottish and then get the better of Bedford the weekend after.

Which makes selecting the right starting XV so important for Rae and his coaches. Some tough calls to be made, then.

Injuries to Liam Richman and Tommy Mathews have thrown the position of fly half to the fore and in particular the probable inclusion of Theo Mannion into the starting XV. It seems to have caused some concern elsewhere, but for me it just seems the right thing to do. Yes he's young and, yes, he's inexperienced at this level, but he's been at the club for a couple of seasons now and has played senior rugby all of last season as well as making 3 appearances for the first team, too.

It's worth recalling that Evan Mitchell was leading the line at 20 (the same age as Mannion is now) and helping Cov to some notable wins and by the time he left Coventry he'd played 60 Championship games. Speaking to those far better informed than me, the feeling is that he's got the potential to be an even better player than Evan so I don't believe for a moment that Rae has the same concern as some supporters.

For me, the lad deserves the chance, and I hope he grasps it fully. If there is a concern, it revolves more around the backup for the number 10 position should Mannion be injured. This is why perhaps Fin Ogden might be considered for a spot on the bench, although it would be unfortunate for Will Lane if he is left out since as he's performed well in the two pre-season matches. Steff Davies has experience playing at 10, so that might open up more possibilities in other positions...

I've travelled down to the RAG on numerous occasions over the years, either to watch Richmond (remember Ben Clarke's much heralded arrival?) or London Scottish.

It's very much an 'old school' rugby ground and Scottish have done their best to retain their Caledonian roots with a lone piper heralding the home team onto the pitch prior to kick off.

There's no better rugby anthem for me than 'Flowers of Scotland'.

Sadly, the whole RAG experience was spoiled a little last time round by the PA announcer who, for me, overstepped his role, openly questioning the referee, pointing out on-field errors and appearing at times to want to make his contribution as important as that of the players.

I wrote at the time:

'Maybe it's something that Scottish fans feel is part of the entertainment, part of the RAG experience, but this travelling supporter was far from entertained.

Shocked, angered, thoroughly pissed off by it all, yes.

Entertained, definitely not.'

Something I still stand by 7 months on.

Unfortunately, the behaviour of a couple of Cov fans as Slevin took his unsuccessful penalty attempt to win the game for the home side was poor in the extreme but, at the risk of sounding a little Trump-esque, their behaviour was probably in part the result of being forced to listen to the PA for the 79 minutes or so beforehand. Although I'm neither excusing, nor condoning, their conduct whatsoever.

Here's hoping Cov play to their potential on the day - if they do then I can't see them coming away from the RAG with anything but a win; anything less and Scottish will make like very difficult for us.

I'm sure they'll be plenty of Cov support - for once I'm travelling down independently of the CRSC as my daughter is driving down with Josh so it's very much a family affair (cue Sly and the Family Stone at this point).

It seems a long time since we were all at the BPA watching Cov give the England U20s a lesson in attacking rugby - they clearly learned from their experience! Let's hope the season coming provides just as much entertainment and excitement for Cov fans the last couple have.

If the mood of the players on the various social media platforms is anything to go by, they certainly seem fired up for it...

Up the Cov!

And for Danny 'Boy' Green in particular, the pipes, the pipes are calling...

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