Skip to main content

“A BIG statement” was the assessment of director of rugby Rowland Winter following Coventry’s 39-3 win over Blackheath.

Thumped 42-5 when the two met in London at the end of September, Cov provided the exact response asked for by Winter against a side that began the day in third place in the National League One table.

“It was a huge performance,” said Winter. “It’s all based around the attitude of the boys – we talked a lot in the week about how Blackheath embarrassed us when we went to their place, we didn’t perform and we didn’t do ourselves justice.

“I said in my notes beforehand that today was going to be a measure of how far we’ve come on as a group and developed as a team. The players didn’t need any motivation.

“To nil them in terms of scoring tries shows the development in our defence, and to put a bonus point on them as well, I’m happy with that.

“This was a big statement. We want to get into the top group in the table and today’s a good start.”

Added Winter: “It’s about taking a step back and recognising that this is a journey we’re on for the long run, we’re beginning to build step by step, and we can only do that by looking at how we turn things round from games like the one down there to today which was probably our best performance of the season.

“We didn’t get rattled by their cheap shots early on, we put in a good, controlled, calm performance and we didn’t let them play.”