Coventry RFC 53 Wharfdale 26 by John Wilkinson

Cov return to winning ways but questions still remain

Coventry returned to winning ways in an 11-try extravaganza at the Butts Park Arena which again revealed both sides of their Jekyll and Hyde character.

The coaching staff had demanded a positive response to the defeat at Blaydon seven days earlier, and that was what they got in the first half as Cov blew the opposition away with an outstanding display of aggressive, attacking rugby which brought six tries and a commanding 43-5 lead.

But the next 25 minutes were a horror show as Wharfedale, who made five changes at the break, raised their tempo and scored three converted tries to threaten the comeback of all comebacks as Cov’s game and shape went to pieces.

Happily, Cov regained some composure, and possession, and were able to close out the game with ten late points – but their inability to play at a consistent level for the whole 80 minutes will remain a concern along with an injury list which continues to grow week by week.

It had all looked so good in the first 40 minutes as Cov, with their scrum and line-out functioning smoothly, ripped a fragile Wharfedale defence to shreds.

Cov went ahead after just 87 seconds when Matt Jones dummied his way into clear space and sent in Gareth Turner to give the flanker a dream start to his full debut, Cliffie Hodgson adding the conversion.

The lead was doubled on six minutes when Will Hurrell raced over from a scrum in the Wharfedale 22, and although a rare incursion into home territory produced a well-taken try for Taylor Prell, Cov were quickly back in control with Callum MacBurnie going over by the posts for Hodgson to again convert.

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