Coventry Rugby side announced to face Doncaster Knights...

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Ladies and Gentlemen, unfortunately in Dublin for long weekend with a cultural tour, think we are good for a win, will be in touch, xx

A settled side is one thing, but I fear there is now a loss of competition for places.

I cannot conceive that Lewis Barker, for instance, was good enough to play for England counties last year, but can't get a start this year!

Don't forget that Cov, however well they played last week - lost.

Continuously selecting the same players despite results, will do no good, especially given the large squad. A point made almost to distraction. This will come home to bite!

Losing, though selecting less effective players would bite even more.

I was a great fan of Lewis Barker last season but Louis Silver delivers faster ball through not taking a pace off the back of a breakdown through passing, and can kick better.

It is worth pointing out how well Lois Silver has improved with regular game time. Over many seasons Cov have had "9s" that have been crowd favorites but have not had the shirt for one reason or another. It is worth a note that Lewis Barker is a school master, if the club climbs their way to the Championship can LB give the time for that ? Look at last seasons ND1 winners Ealing. They had quite a few players who through work commitments could not make the step up to the championship.

covmick/Michael Carter

I can't be convinced the lb shouldn't be first choice.mI will agree that silver does get the ball out quicker, but his tackling is IMO the worst in the team, and misses several every game, especially last week. Both have their strong and weak points, but I also think lb offers more variety, and is a more exciting SH. As for him being a teacher, if that was a reason not to select him, that would infer we now only select FT players, and I don't know, but suspect, that there are a number of of payers within the team who have responsible day jobs too, so should they not be selected?

Either way... Good luck to the team tomorrow. :-)

Lewis is no longer a Coventry player.

When you change the 9, you are also changing the halfback partnership. Halfbacks improve as a pair by playing together consistently, not by chopping and changing.

Really is that official?

Probably as official you are going to get!!!!

Reality check needed I think.......we have come a long way as a team in the past twelve months. I have every confidence in the coaches that select the team. We are not privy to the injuries and knocks that the squad have, they know what is available to them on any given match day and in general I think that they've got most decisions right. We all have our opinions, and sat in the stand we are all experts, me include. But it's all very different when your at the coal face, in fact I thought I was one of the best players around when I was on the touch line, not so good when I crossed the whitewash though. Keep the faith and back the decisions made by the people in the know......!!

Quote:

zinzanh
Ladies and Gentlemen, unfortunately in Dublin for long weekend with a cultural tour, think we are good for a win, will be in touch, xx

As an anglo irishman I can assure you there is nothing unfortunate about a weekend in Dublin.... Slan !
O'connell street party time....

Quote:

Chick
Lewis is no longer a Coventry player.

Where has he gone?.

News from the ground

Locke & Wright out injured. Daynes expected to move to 2nd row when Morgan goes off. Morgan, Price start. Hobbs recalled onto bench after u20 midweek. Doncaster back row as depleted as ours.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:12:14:14:15:22 by OldNick.

7:30 5-0 Donny, penalty to line out to break in corner. Conversion missed.

From tester Cov gain scrum 32m out dead centre. Break from scrum, straight through middle 5-7 on 11 mins

Pen on half way centre 5-10 14 mins.

Last try was Hurrell to Otutaha btw

16 mins interception try from half way Kohler 5-17 16 mins

18 mins 5-20.

Cov getting very little possession but making good use of the wind to gain ground.

Yorkshire abuse of officials had started.

23 min 8-20

According to rm Donny 13 cov 20

Donny 13 cov 23

Ht Donny 18 cove 23

Late change after training Thurs with Danny Wright out,scott Morgan in

18-23 ht

Sorry for lack of recent scores -battery died

Morgan off after about 20 mins. Not Poole as announced by Donny.

All 3 Donny tries in right corner - all 3 convs missed from line.

46 min first half after a number if minor injury stops. Pretty well every whistle a trainer is on - usually for Donny.

Second half Donny will have the wind which Cov made good use of in first half. Cov will need more possession -but then more likely to have ball kicked to them to run from deep.

Heading back out with a little charge on battery. Is anyone reading this?

Keep going Nick - thanks for the info to date

Yes, Old Nick, very useful, thanks!

24-23 Donny 2penslties, one from long range. Wind rising

31-23 Donny 59 minutes. Big Donny scrum on Cov 5. Big push BT Donny who lost control of ball which came out of back of their scrum. Pen try given as Cov broke off to chase Lose ball. Poor call

V donny and ref then, why am I not surprised with useless standard of officials in this league ?

Same call happened against Richmond last season.

Now Donny 39 cov 23

Ft Donny 39 cov 30

Final Score Donny 39-30 Cov.

Frustrating, but all round not a bad result given how ravaged we are with injuries at the moment.

FT 39 - 30.

Cov probably deserved more - but Donny the win. Looking back on the first half, Cov electing to take penslties as scrum 5s rather than taking 3 easy points may have been a poor call, but at the time the likelihood of scoring looked high.

Overall, not enough lead with the wind, and Donny's better use of wind.

Time over christmas for some reflection on the season so far and to plan for the second half of the season. I think last week and this shows we are a work in progress, tough defeat to take when the string of penalties and penalty try undid our hopes of a win

39-30 at donny is no thrashing and our guys seemed to keep at it.

Unlucky guys and well fought.

Gutsy performnce but outgunned in all areas second half. Injury to Morgan early on caused problems with Daynes having to go into second row. Took wrong option 7on a couple of occasions. Scrum fell apart in last twenty mins...lost to our put in twice in last 10 mins. Their backs were much sharper and when holes appeared they took full advantage. Great to see Le Roux warming up before the game!

Personally I think the second half resembled the RP game, Cov conceeding a lot of penalties, and handling errors. Having said that Doncaster were a very good team, and fully deserved the win.

Injuries to Matt Price and Scott Morgan are a real worry, I just hope that Chris Locke and Danny Wright are fit for next week.

Was interesting to see Luke come on at 10. I thought he did very well, and I hope he starts next week.

disappointed to see we have now slipped to 6th after 2 defeats, though not a great deal in it from 3rd to 7th.tough game away next week at cinderford who are desperate for points at the other end of the table,so need to have players fit,especially the more powerful forwards.pivotal game if cov are to remain firmly in the mix to finish in the top four.

Quote:

covkid53
V donny and ref then, why am I not surprised with useless standard of officials in this league ?

Oh dear me. That old tripe again. Look, Cov will lose matches, and decisions will go against (as well as for) the team, so live with it. Andy small reffed the games last week ffs.

Mr savage won't be appointing "useless" officials to any games in this league. When I spoke with him this week, he was only too aware of the connotations of pretty much every fixture, given that any side is capable of beating any of the others.

One man cannot determine the outcome of any game - that takes at least 30 other blokes. If you're going to shoot from the. Hip with your comments, aim higher, or you'll shoot yourself in the foot again.

Quote:

Sam Skennel

Quote:

covkid53
V donny and ref then, why am I not surprised with useless standard of officials in this league ?

Oh dear me. That old tripe again. Look, Cov will lose matches, and decisions will go against (as well as for) the team, so live with it. Andy small reffed the games last week ffs.

Mr savage won't be appointing "useless" officials to any games in this league. When I spoke with him this week, he was only too aware of the connotations of pretty much every fixture, given that any side is capable of beating any of the others.

One man cannot determine the outcome of any game - that takes at least 30 other blokes. If you're going to shoot from the. Hip with your comments, aim higher, or you'll shoot yourself in the foot again.

That quote of mine was taken out of context. I was responding to the game following on here and twitter as it unfolded, all posters agreed at the time how harsh the penalty try was.

I stand by my remark about overall refereeing standard in this division which poor to average at best.

Yes the penalty try wash harsh, apparently given for collapsing the scrum over the line(?). If you go on the Donny forum you will see posts that have the line of "it was V Cov and the officials". That probably shows he had a good game or was as equally as bad for both, take your pick.

ref at Doncaster gave cov most decisions in the first half in the second half he nailed cov with every decision he could some decisions even left the Doncaster fans bemused.luke came on at 10 and gave us more go forward,after watching the last 2 games against the top 2 sides our problem is at 9 and 10 not enough creation and poor kicking,we need a 9 like doncasters Bruno bravo who was fast off the mark and very creative.as barker has left we have no other 9 but perhaps luke or maisey could be tried at 10.

The Donny fans behind us were shouting similar in the first half (when they were being soundly beaten), then again nearly every away game I've been to i hear the same thing, says it all doesn't it?

Refereeing decisions even themselves out over the course of the season and I never like to use them as reasons for defeat.

Alex Smit can be either a winger or scrum-half,there is also the french lad attached to Cov/Henley Pierre Ferre



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:12:15:19:06:00 by tom snr.

Re the decisions by the ref, I dont think we can complain, as our first try was a result of a massive forward pass!

Quote:

covkid53

Quote:

Sam Skennel

Quote:

covkid53
V donny and ref then, why am I not surprised with useless standard of officials in this league ?

Oh dear me. That old tripe again. Look, Cov will lose matches, and decisions will go against (as well as for) the team, so live with it. Andy small reffed the games last week ffs.

Mr savage won't be appointing "useless" officials to any games in this league. When I spoke with him this week, he was only too aware of the connotations of pretty much every fixture, given that any side is capable of beating any of the others.

One man cannot determine the outcome of any game - that takes at least 30 other blokes. If you're going to shoot from the. Hip with your comments, aim higher, or you'll shoot yourself in the foot again.

That quote of mine was taken out of context. I was responding to the game following on here and twitter as it unfolded, all posters agreed at the time how harsh the penalty try was.

I stand by my remark about overall refereeing standard in this division which poor to average at best.

Well, I'll have to respect your opinion. Have you ever refereed a match yourself?

Quote:

johnsonbrainwilkes
Refereeing decisions even themselves out over the course of the season and I never like to use them as reasons for defeat.

That is a football expression and I dont except the premise, even spinning dice randomly it takes a huge amount of rolls before it evens out, if ever.

Where referees skewed personal opinions, crowd pressure and just plain incompetence plays a part, then no,

It doesnt even itself out.

Quote:

Sam Skennel

Quote:

covkid53

Quote:

Sam Skennel

Quote:

covkid53
V donny and ref then, why am I not surprised with useless standard of officials in this league ?

Oh dear me. That old tripe again. Look, Cov will lose matches, and decisions will go against (as well as for) the team, so live with it. Andy small reffed the games last week ffs.

Mr savage won't be appointing "useless" officials to any games in this league. When I spoke with him this week, he was only too aware of the connotations of pretty much every fixture, given that any side is capable of beating any of the others.

One man cannot determine the outcome of any game - that takes at least 30 other blokes. If you're going to shoot from the. Hip with your comments, aim higher, or you'll shoot yourself in the foot again.

That quote of mine was taken out of context. I was responding to the game following on here and twitter as it unfolded, all posters agreed at the time how harsh the penalty try was.

I stand by my remark about overall refereeing standard in this division which poor to average at best.

Well, I'll have to respect your opinion. Have you ever refereed a match yourself?

But your comment indicates I am not entitled to an opinion !

And yes I have ref'd but only juniors when a level 2 coach. I am sure I must have made a few errors but I was not qualified as these guys are supposed to be.

One thing is for sure - Coventry didn't lose because of the referee.

At the half way stage of the season Coventry are 6th. They have played the top sides and have lost, albeit narrowly.

I don't buy the 'injury crisis' argument, that seems to revolve around the second row/ back row, but the numbers are still there - just.

I would now use the rest of the season to ascertain just how good the squad is as a whole. If the team really is a function of a squad - then use it. Either the players are good enough or they are not - lets find out.

I am also far from convinced that the current 'musical chairs' in the backs is actually using the squad, we just seem to be trying to find out who can play at 10?

PS. Google reveals that LB is now playing for Northampton Casuals RFC - a complete nonsense, but an alarm bell.

Quote:

covkid53

Quote:

johnsonbrainwilkes
Refereeing decisions even themselves out over the course of the season and I never like to use them as reasons for defeat.

That is a football expression and I dont except the premise, even spinning dice randomly it takes a huge amount of rolls before it evens out, if ever.

Where referees skewed personal opinions, crowd pressure and just plain incompetence plays a part, then no,

It doesnt even itself out.

You don't think Cov benefit just as much from all those things you mentioned? Of course they do.

[quote covkid53][quote Sam Skennel]

Well, I'll have to respect your opinion. Have you ever refereed a match yourself?[/quote]

But your comment indicates I am not entitled to an opinion !

And yes I have ref'd but only juniors when a level 2 coach. I am sure I must have made a few errors but I was not qualified as these guys are supposed to be.[/quote]

No, "I'll have to respect your opinion" means exactly that.

You'll need to rememebr that watching a match from 20m back and 10m high up in a stand gives an entirely different perspective from where the referee is standing, often with players in his way. I do believe that until you have experienced that level of rugby intensity from that ground level persoective, it's very difficult to form an objective stand point. Passion is what it is.

[quote covkid53]Where referees skewed personal opinions, crowd pressure and just plain incompetence plays a part, then no{/quote]
Personal opinions? In what form?

Crowd pressure? You do;t hear it out in the middle of the field. The blokes that *can* hear are the ones on the sidelines with flags in their hands, and they aren't listening to you, unless it's amusing banter, and none of this "put your flag in, lino" BS. You know if it's banter and they are listening, because their shoulders start shaking.

Really, you should try talking to some of these blokes afterwards. You'd probably learn something about them and the job they do. It's really quite enlightening, and most of the ones I talk with are more than happy to hold a civilised conversation with you.

Try it sometime.

Ok the referees are perfect and every decision is consistant all of the time, those small mistakes they make even themselves out every season for all teams all the time.

I have been living in utopia and didnt know it, how silly of me not to realise it.

Haha. No, they're not perfect, but neitehr are the players. If they were (anyone, not just one set or the other), they'd be playing or officiating in the premiership or the world cup.

That's kind of my point!

I was at Doncaster and have been to many away matches this season plus I have only missed one home game. This talk about referee decisions affecting the result is really just not meaningful IMO. A decision that goes for us is forgotten a decision that goes against us, even when correct, is a miscarriage of justice. If you sit or stand with the other teams supporters they have the same opinions just totally reversed to yours because we are all supporters. As said we are all experts but biased towards our team.
On saturday the thing that decided the game was 5 minutes of poor decision making under the Doncaster posts by Cov that led to Doncaster scoring a try, and the wind.(Not caused by the delicious cow pie and mushy peas).If we had scored a try or even taken the three points and not allowed them to score the result would have been different.
We do have major injury and worries in the back five and so did Doncaster in the back row. Our 6 and 7 did not protect Matt Jones and they (Doncaster) and us know he can not tackle so they get to him. Its called playing to win and having a plan.
All the talk about our big squad is now ridiculed we do not have as far as I am aware 2 fit specialist second row players. Our back row is similarly disrupted due to long term injuries to at least 3 first choice players - one could almost say our squad is not big enough but I do not want to be guilty of opening that debate again.
The way we lost on Saturday however was pleasing unlike the debacles at Blaydon and Wharfedale and Worthing every man fit or otherwise playing as hard as they could in Coventry's cause and we nearly did it. Half way in the season top 6 and games against most of them at the Butts to come. Even Donscaster fans are dreading the thought of having to come to Coventry in April to win the league because they could see that Coventry can beat them.

I'm going to put my oar in here, as the person who posted the two comments about refereeing which CovKid53 seems to have taken as justification for an attack on refereeing standards. Unlike him, I was there, and commenting from what I actually saw at the match.

Quote:

OldNick
18 mins 5-20.
Cov getting very little possession but making good use of the wind to gain ground.
Yorkshire abuse of officials had started.

A criticism of the crowd. not of the refereeing. Where I was standing, on the rail close to the Doncaster line on the terrace side, Coventry were running away with it, and the crowd didn't like it.

Quote:

OldNick
31-23 Donny 59 minutes. Big Donny scrum on Cov 5. Big push BT Donny who lost control of ball which came out of back of their scrum. Pen try given as Cov broke off to chase Lose ball. Poor call

One typo there - it should have read 'big push by Donny' and 'loose ball'. Blame cold fingers on my phone pad.

Here I was criticising the referee for what I saw of as a mistake.

I was as close to the ball as the referee, and watching from that side of the scrum. Donny took a scrum on the Cov 5m line, close to touch, and pushed, holding the ball in at the back of the scrum at the blindside flanker's feet, not the no 8. The scrum stayed fairly well down - some rise in the centre, but certainly not a standing up, and as far as I could see no one broke off. All Doncaster had to do was keep going forwards.

As it was, the flanker lost control of the ball, stepping over it, and it came out under his feet. At this point the scrum started to break up, and the referee, who I had not seen signalling advantage broke and ran for the posts, signalling the penalty try.

As far as I could see, he could not see the ball - which was not in a position where it could have been kicked through, and the usual reasons for a penalty in those circumstances hadn't happened. Hence, my criticism.

The touch judge on that side, quite correctly, did nothing. There was nothing which he should have done. No one in the area knew what the penalty try had been given for, and it was not signaled - the best attempt at a justification from the crowd was "They f'ing had it coming to them".

So - one criticism, for what I saw as a mistake, not a general panning of the officials.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:12:16:16:04:43 by OldNick.

Perhaps we should draw a line under this thread which is getting to long any way and move onto Cinderford.
Supporters coach running Simon and Steve are the contacts all supporters to wear christmas hats and be ready to party what ever the result although I am anticipating a bit of a backlash and 40 Coventry Points. If we get 40 the ref wont matter IMO.

Get back to the 2nd half of season with 5 of the top 7 sides having to visit bpa, wdale hosting fylde on Saturday a cov win will move them up at least one place.
Full preview will be issued Tuesday morning.
Results round up week 15 on offy site, should appear here later.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013:12:16:17:07:45 by tom snr.

Quote:

tom snr
Get back to the 2nd half of season with 5 of the top 7 sides having to visit bpa, wdale hosting fylde on Saturday a cov win will move them up at least one place.
Full preview will be issued Tuesday morning.
Results round up week 15 on offy site, should appear here later.

The guys can only regroup and come out as hard as they can until the end of the season.We need to remain as competitive as possible with a strong finish, hopefully in the top 5.

The momentum gained can then be carried through to the new season. Scott has done a great job, we have been in good positions before failing in the last quarter of some games.

The building blocks are there and over the next couple of years I can see Cov mounting a serious challenge, in complete contrast to Christmas last year.

Quote:

Bono546
Perhaps we should draw a line under this thread which is getting to long any way and move onto Cinderford.
Supporters coach running Simon and Steve are the contacts all supporters to wear christmas hats and be ready to party what ever the result although I am anticipating a bit of a backlash and 40 Coventry Points. If we get 40 the ref wont matter IMO.

Pride cometh .......?