Not so Bonny, Donny?

FOR ten minutes, it looked for all the world that Cov had decided to take a day off.

Within that ten minutes the visitors had pinned Cov back in their own half, potting a long-range penalty and adding a converted try following an offside penalty from a Fenner cross-field kick for a comfortable ten-nil lead.

And Cov were lucky to have scored zero.

Such was the gulf between the sides at that point. Doncaster looked like a side that had been expensively assembled and intended to justify the hype around them and push Ealing all the way to the Premiership dream. Cov looked like three-quarters of the squad hadn't even shaken hands.

Things really didn't improve much for the next twenty minutes either, and without taking statistical notes, it seemed to me that the home side didn't trouble the visitors' 22 for the first half hour (ish) of the game. However, that first visit was worth waiting for, with pressure in the left corner eventually resulting in a touchdown for Nile Dacres, further improved by Fenner.

The out-half further made amends for an earlier rash kick through that had gone dead from all of 60 metres by hoofing a penalty from near halfway to send the Blue & Whites into the break at an, at times, unlikely 10-10.

I have absolutely no idea what Rowland Winter slipped into the half-time teapot, but whatever it was I hope he keeps it to himself.

Cov came out looking like a team on a mission, pressing high and constantly, with Man of the Match Ryan Burrows making a superb trademark break which unfortunately came to naught.

Perversely it was Doncaster who were to reinstate their lead, completely against the run of play, to make it 10-17.

Cov weren't going to lie down though, and within five minutes Adam Peters pulled it back to 15-17, with replacement out-half Tom Curtis (for the injured Tony Fenner) eschewing the relatively simple conversion. He'd make up for it with interest though as the half progressed.

And it didn't take long as he potted a superb touchline two-pointer following a wonderful team try, brilliantly finished in the water tank corner in Bulumakau-esque style by Josh Bainbridge. Again Burrows featured prominently with a huge burst from nowhere leaving the visitors' defence in tatters. MoM just about sealed right there.

It continued to be all Cov, and that pressure eventually resulted in a top-drawer try for Curtis, which he duly topped-up to put Cov almost out of sight at 29-17.

Buzz wasn't finished though, and sealed his bubbly with a try which was also converted by Curtis for 36-17.

Donny had time to bag their third try in stoppage time - there'd been quite a few of those – but Curtis wasn't going to turn down a final chance to add to his tally, and with the last touch of the game did just that with a perfectly weighted long-distance penalty to seal things at 39-22.

A very satisfying start then for a rather patched-up Cov squad. Five points that not many outside of the club's orbit thought would be theirs.

It's always fun to confound the 'pundits'.

Coventry 5-0 Doncaster

It would be remiss of me to omit to mention the props. I had my doubts about the replacements - before their addition to their field of play. When both Trinder and Boulton left and were replaced by Richardson and Jones, if anything the pack improved, and so I apologise unreservedly to both these gentleman. It's so good to see that Luc Jeannot's injury hasn't adversely impinged on the set piece. Haste you back though Luc! (When ready...).

Oh, and a word for Ma'am too (no idea what the correct term is, but it's probably not 'Sir' in this case). Sarah Cox had, in my opinion, a superb match, allowing the game to flow where possible, and communicating her requirements extremely clearly. More of this, please.