Old Farts and Young Upstarts

WHERE did the last two weeks go?

The fallout from the Old Farts' latest ill-thought-out 'plan' for sub-Fancy-Dan rugby continues to rain down on the heads of those who need it least; The Championship, National 1, National 2, ad nauseam, i.e. those couple of thousand clubs (or whatever the number is) who are slowly choking to death in the wake of the Ruling Body's (I use that advisedly) position of utter thrall to the Premiership cartel, along with their financial puppeteers, and the perennially just-out-of-reach dream of World Cup glory.

Once again, the chance of shaking things up a little, of sending up a 'minnow' from the nether reaches to at least have a crack at the top table, has proved too much to swallow along with the prawn sandwich and the gin.

Are we heading for another London Welsh-esque day in court?

I hope not, and I sincerely hope the mandarins see sense and do the 'right' thing. For once.

Getting back to the rugby, Cov, for probably the first time this season, managed to put together a fairly complete 80 minutes against basement side London Scottish a week or so ago, and yes, it won't go unnoticed that Ealing put 81 unanswered points past the Richmond-based side at their own gaff at the weekend, so, as always, things have to be weighed and balanced accordingly.

However, it was good to watch, and it must be remembered that Ealing had been stung, badly, a couple of times, and Cov were still shorn of a few of their more influential men (Kpoku, Bolton, to name just a couple). So it was a satisfying watch on a bright, breezy day, and hopefully some kind of portent of improvement as we head into the dying embers of the real season, short and patchy as it is.

A fifty-point advantage did Cov's rather poor points difference no harm, either.

Tiki Nayalo warmed up impressively for his run out as Gunner Nayalo at No8 for The Army with a try, and an all-round dominant display against Scottish. It was good to see, and clearly his injury break only served to sharpen his appetite, which became even more evident with his two-try display against Cov on Saturday. Part of a big, quite dominant Army pack - playing against a mostly rather young Cov Academy side with one or two notable exceptions - his Services opposition will not be relishing his presence in the upcoming Services tourney. Good luck 'Shane'.

As a footnote to the day, it was heartening to see that over a thousand spectators turned up to watch on a day when there was an entrance fee. That, plus the 'Ladies' Day' aspect of events surely helped to put some coins in the coffers, but one wonders if there would have been more footfall had the Highways Agency not decided to announce a road closure directly outside the ground on a match day? Much kudos to the club on their keeping us informed, especially for the YouTube video published at pretty short notice clarifying the mitigating procedures put in place, but I wonder how many were put off attending? In the event, the HA abandoned the closure before the game even commenced, and access was as normal, but these things only cause issues. Not smart.

On the subject of attendances, Championship figures continue to disappoint. Nottingham pulled in the highest attendance on Saturday, with 1200+, while Scottish, at home to relatively local rivals, only attracted 584. I'm sure they were expecting to lose, but that's poor for a club in affluent Richmond, playing against a side with genuine Premiership aspirations.

Interestingly, former Cov players (and Cov Kids) had a big hand in that Nottingham game's outcome. Sam Hollingsworth put the home side ahead shortly after the break with a converted (by himself) try, only for a late five-pointer from Richmond's former Cov ball-boy and winger Ronnie McLean to snatch the four points. The result lifted Richmond above Cov in the table by two clear points, with Nottingham's single bonus point bringing them to within five of Cov, albeit having played one more game and having a far inferior points difference and win-total.

Elsewhere, former Cov players had successful days, with Kwaku Asiedu crossing for Cambridge in their narrow win at Darlington, and Dan Lewis keeping up his impressive return from injury with a try and a conversion in Moseley's equally narrow and identical scoreline win over visitors Taunton. Sadly, attendances in National One do not appear to be in rude health either, with the top figure being the 781 who braved the refrigerator of Darlington's bowl, with Moseley second placed on 634.

We now look forward to a resumption of Championship activity with a trip to Bedford on Friday (7.45 ko), followed by the final home game of the season against Jersey on the 19^th (4pm ko). Both tough, but both winnable.

Gwarn Cov.