Loughborough 22 Coventry 45 by John Wilkinson.

It may have been their shortest trip of the season, but hopefully the strength of this performance will finally banish any thoughts that Coventry simply don’t travel well.

Unbeaten at the Butts Park Arena, Cov went into Saturday’s game with an away record of patchy wins at Hull Ionians and Richmond followed by a run of three dismal defeats at Blaydon, Wharfedale and Worthing.

For a while it again looked awkward as Loughborough made a confident start, scoring two tries to lead 17-7 after 25 minutes.

But this time Cov kept their shape and discipline to claw their way back into the game by half-time and then stormed clear after the break with four unanswered tries before Students grabbed a late consolation score.

The win was built on a hard-working, all-round team effort, epitomised by the back row where Sam Pailor was outstanding despite 16 minutes off the field in the first half for treatment to an unsightly broken nose which, in the boxing ring, may well have seen the contest halted.

Danny Wright and Tom Poole also had excellent games in the second row as the pack took a steadily tightening grip in the set piece, subduing and the dominating the home scrum.

But despite conceding twice early on, it was Cov’s defence that was key to the way the game panned out with Loughborough forced into mistakes as they tried to build on their early gains and then pressurised into costly errors at the other end.

Three penalties from the dependable Cliffie Hodgson put Cov right back in contention by the break, and with the elements now in their favour and fly-half Matt Jones dictating, they overwhelmed the opposition in the second 40 and capitalised totally on two yellow cards, scoring two tries during both ten-minute periods to put the issue beyond all doubt.

Cov went behind inside two minutes to a James Moffat penalty but posted a quick reply, Liam Munro going over for a try from their first sustained attack and Hodgson adding the conversion.

Moffat was off target with a second penalty chance, but Students had the upper hand and tries for Jack Pons and Akinbiyi Alo, both converted by Moffat, on either side of an injury break while Cov old boy Ben Pons received treatment left Cov trailing 17-7 after 25 minutes.

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