Fylde 25 Coventry RFC 14

Out-of-sorts Coventry found their feet far too late as they slithered to a disappointing National League One defeat at The Woodlands.

Playing in a stiff wind, Cov were well in contention after a scrappy first half hour, but the game turned following a yellow card for prop Loma Kivalu – Fylde taking immediate advantage to score two tries in the space of three minutes for a 17-0 lead at the break.

The gap went out to 25 points in the third counter before a late rally saw Cov pull back two converted tries and give some respectability to the scoreboard.

Cov fell behind to a fourth-minute penalty from Chris Johnson, but with both sides struggling for cohesion in a stop-start encounter punctuated by a succession of scrums, the visitors were having the better of the exchanges without making it count before Kivalu’s departure.

Oli Brennand squeezed over in the left corner for the first Fylde try when they moved the ball wide from a scrum, and Evan Stewart grabbed the second from a line-out move after the referee ruled that a long clearance kick by Johnson – who added both conversions – had been touched in flight and awarded the throw-in five metres out to the home side.

Johnson kicked his second penalty with Cov back to strength five minutes into the second half, and four minutes later Chris Briers went in for an unconverted try from turned over possession in midfield.

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