Week 7 - league 1 previews 18.10.2014...
By Tom Little
October 14 2014
...including Coventry Rugby v Richmond.
Week 7 - Fixtures Saturday 18th October 2014.
Blackheath v Cinderford
Coventry Rugby v Richmond
Darlington Mowden Park v Hartpury College
Ealing Tfs v Macclesfield
Fylde v Old Albanian
Loughborough Students v Blaydon
Rosslyn Park v Wharfedale
Tynedale v Esher
The top three sides, Ealing Tfs, Fylde and Rosslyn Park must be clapping their hands in glee, as they look forward to their respective home ties with Macclesfield, Old Albanian and a leaky Wharfedale. No chance of any surprises in these matches so the tie of the round must be the traditional contest between Coventry Rugby and Richmond which will be a tense and close affair.
Top against bottom as winless and pointless Macclesfield take the Silk Road to Ealing Tfs. With surely Macclesfield only playing for pride and on a damage limitation exercise. This step up in class has been just too great for the newcomers who have had to rely mainly on last season’s squad. One step too far! Anything less than a 50 point margin for Ealing would be seen as a pyrrhic victory for the visitors.
Perhaps not quite so easy for Fylde as another winless side Old Albanian visit the seaside after 6 straight losses. With the second worse defensive record in the league, and a shadow of their former selves despite their Saracens link up. This time OA might trouble the scorer but not enough to worry the home backs who are in sparkling form. Another 50 point margin is on the cards.
It can’t be any more of a contest as Wharfedale travel to third placed Rosslyn Park .With Dale now having the third worse defensive record and severely feeling the loss of No 8 Rob Baldwin, their lack of a first half defence against Coventry and then Blackheath does not bode well against a Rosslyn Park side at last hitting better form. Park need the win to keep the pressure on the leaders, whilst Dale don’t want to be dragged into the third relegation spot.
At last we come across a game that is expected to be a tense, close and feisty affair as 6th placed Coventry Rugby entertain 4th placed Richmond, before what should be the home side’s largest gate of the season. A full match preview of these two old rivals meeting will follow.
Another game that is expected to be close is that of Esher’s visit to Tynedale. Both sides have the same number of wins and losses and will be buoyant over their respective wins last Saturday. Tynedale at home should have their quartet of impressive Falcons back but the injury to experienced lock Andy Buist is a blow. With Esher now finding some form a close game to call, but might just go to home advantage.
On the face of it a team that put 50 points over Wharfedale away, Blackheath should have no trouble at home over Cinderford, who have still only won once. Yet Cinderford are not a bad side with an effective pack recently boosted by some Worcester Academy loan players. Blackheath themselves have a very efficient pack and should be able to create enough chances for either themselves or their backs to get a large if not overwhelming victory.
It is the meeting of the two league newcomers Darlington Mowden Park as Hartpury College are their visitors. Hartpury have made the slightly better start to their league campaign, but Darlington MP could quite likely point out to the number of games they have led at half-time but lack of experience has thwarted them seeing these games closed out. Another close affair between two well matched packs should go to the home side, with a high scoring game is expected.
The final game sees Loughborough Students having Blaydon as their visitors.The Students finally got their season up and running with an away win at Old Albanian on Saturday, whilst Blaydon found it difficult to get anything out of Rosslyn Park. The Students have struggled more this season than expected and the more experienced Blaydon pack and side might just have enough to sneak a valuable away win.
COVENTRY RUGBY V RICHMOND MATCH PREVIEW 18TH OCTOBER 2014
This coming Saturday sees the visit of one of Coventry Rugby’s traditional rivals, that of Richmond to the Butts Park Arena, with kick off as usual at 3.00pm.Founded in 1861, Richmond played the first recorded club fixture against Blackheath in 1864, and became one of the 8 founder members of the RFU in 1871.Once the game went professional, Richmond like so many other teams at the time found it difficult to adjust, after a black chapter in their history started off again in the lower leagues. All credit to the club for surviving and getting back into the third tier of the leagues.
They moved up the leagues steadily and last season under the then Head Coach Steve Hill, they finished in 7th place. Now Director of Rugby Steve Hill assisted by 1st XV coach Mark Matzopoulus Richmond has made any excellent start with successive wins over Macclesfield, Esher, Hartpury College, Darlington MP and Tynedale, and lost their unbeaten record at home to new leaders Ealing Tfs last Saturday. A loss that drops Richmond down to 4th place, two places and four points ahead of Coventry Rugby.
Recent games have been very close between the two sides, with Coventry winning the away fixture 32-31 thanks a last minute penalty by Cliffie Hodgson, whilst Coventry just managed to win their home fixture 20-17. The first league match between Coventry Rugby and Richmond occurred in season 1988/9 and since then they have met 14 times with Coventry having won 7, Richmond 5 and 2 draws.
As usual with West London clubs there can be a steady movement of players between the various clubs, but credit to Richmond as they have kept a majority of last season’s squad with 27 retained , 16 new recruits and only 5 players left. This continuity has helped their results this season. Although not being able to match the spending power of near neighbours Ealing with them only paying match fees, they have a number of dr players from Harlequins and Wasps Academy.
New recruits include Jordan Burns-scrum-half from Quins, Simon Edwards-hooker from Esher, centres Richard Coskie, from Sale FC and Jamie Falconer. With former Wasps dr Louis Grimoldby recalled, two former Loughborough Students fly-halfs have been recruited Andy Hall and Chris Surman.
Two key departures have been flanker Tom George who has retired and No 8 Harison Edwards who has taken a job in the USA. However a very experienced pack remains Chris Davies at No 8 having made his 100th appearance last season and still scoring tries 7 so far, with the ever improving Tom Sergeant and Simon Ackroyd on the flanks. Former Sale No 8 J P Attlee has had to curtail his appearances due to work commitments.
Even more experience is found in the lock position with Will Warden and Charlie Lenygon, with former Heriots player C J Osazuwa becoming a player to watch. Prop forwards Dan Parkinson, Jeremy Cunnew and Tim Walford remain, with Jason Phipps as hooker.
James Gibbs is at scrum-half with a back line full of pace and inventiveness with the key player being full-back and goal-kicker Rob Kirby, whose ball distribution allows his centres Matt Keville and Martin Freeman take advantage. Impressive pace and mazy running is found by wingers Adam Gadsby and Will Browne, and experienced winger Rory Damant.
Another close game between these two historic and well matched sides is expected. A game that both sides will not take lightly as a win for Coventry Rugby could see them up to 4th place, their highest position of the season, whilst another Richmond win would see them maintain pressure on the leaders Ealing Tfs.
Coventry Rugby are expecting not only their largest crowd of the season at the Butts Park Arena for this 3pm kick off,but it should also be the largest National League 1 attendance of the season.
Tom Little
Coventry Rugby press office
14th October 2014.
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