OC Coventry successfully contained Kenilworth's slightly heavier pack in this local derby, and then profited from their faster and more able back-line. Kenilworth were first to score with a converted try after 7 minutes after their forwards had secured a dominant position near the home-side's line. However OC Coventry bounced straight back, their pack pressing the ball shipped along the line for winger Liam O'Neill to score his second try of the season in the left hand corner.

A fiercely contested but even battle ensued with play moving from one end to another and good tackling exhibited by both sides to prevent tries. But OC Coventry forged ahead when from a penalty on the half-way line the ball was shipped to centre Dominic Sheehan who tore through the Kenilworth defence for a try, duly converted by Mattie Greenbank.

Kenilworth responded aggressively, pushing up-field to threaten the OC Coventry line, but Liam O'Neill pounced on a loose pass to take an interception and sprinted from his own 22 metre line for another try, Greenbank again converting to take the score to 19-7. A Kenilworth penalty kick just before half-time took the score to 19-10.

In the second half both sides went a little off the boil and handling errors led to scoring opportunities going begging, but in the final quarter OC Coventry winger Luke Lowe broke the deadlock. finishing off a skilful flowing backs move to round his opposite number and touch down. Shortly afterwards, centre Dan Freeman darted through from mid-field, with a jinking run to evade the defensive cover and score a try in the right hand corner.

This was converted through a fine long range kick by Lowe to take the final score to 31-10.

OC’s Coventry progressed to the third round of the National Colts Cup on Sunday when they took the trip up north to Shropshire and convincingly beat Whitchurch Colts. Playing into the wind, they delivered an excellent first half performance with centre Dan Freeman scored two tries in the first ten minutes. The first saw him receive quick ball from a set piece some 35 metres out and he then jinked through the opposition line before outpacing the cover to score. His second try was almost identical, winger Luke Lowe converting both to give an early 14 point lead.

OC’s Coventry forwards were in excellent form winning a lot of turnover ball, and on 17 minutes they re-circulated the ball quickly after a mazey run by fly half Ryan O’Neill, from which centre Callum Dewar avoided his opposite number and from 30 metres sprinted in for a try. On two or three occasions the Whitchurch forwards pushed up field and pressured the OC’s Coventry line but the defence held up well. Second row Sam Griffin then put the result beyond doubt by producing an outstanding try, breaking from a maul on the half way line, he strode through the defencive line, evaded further covering tackles and finally side-stepped the Whitchurch full-back to score under the posts. Luke Lowe’s conversion gave OC’s Coventry a half time lead of 0-26.

In the second half Whitchurch tried hard to recover and the visitors went a little off the boil. However, their forwards started to reassert themselves and after 17 minutes second row Sean Kenny completed a three-quarters move, diving over the line for a try. A few minutes later winger Liam O’Neill scored his first of the season, catching a long pass and danced his way 40 yards alongside the touch-line to score in the corner. Flanker Carl Jeffs converted both to give a final score of 0-40, and OC’s Coventry now go through to a National Colts Cup third round tie against either Derby or Stourbridge Colts.

Picture by Graham O’Neill:

1514 - Callum Dewar and Carl Jeffs (right) strip the ball from a Whitchurch player

Flanker and occasional centre Carl Jeffs showed he was fully back to form after his early season’s injury profiting form a strong OC’s Colts forwards performance to record an impressive tally of 5 tries in this match at Tile Hill Lane.

Jeffs took the OC’s Colts into an early lead following an outstanding individual break from his own 10 metre line and although Leamington gained the lead with two well taken penalty kicks, he produced another individual try off the base of the scrum, and shortly before half time winger Luke Lowe extended the lead with a try in the corner following some slick three-quarters handling.  Fly-half Mattie Greenbank converted this to take the home side into half-time with a 17-6 lead.

In the second half OC’s Coventry turned up the heat, combining strong loose play and enterprising backs moves to put heavy pressure on Leamington Colts’ line. Jeffs scored two further tries before setting off Dan Freeman on a sprint to the line from his own 22, Greenbank notching two further conversions.  Second rows Sean Kenny and Sam Griffin then broke together from their own 22, their clever inter-passing at pace a joy to watch and giving Griffin a further try to take the lead to 41-6.

In the final quarter Leamington showed resilience in defence and secured the easiest try of the match when the OC’s full-back spilled the ball on his own line.  They converted this and also profited from some careless OC Colts play to secure two penalty kicks.  However, Jeffs, now at centre, and substitute scrum-half Ryan O’Neill balanced the books with two further tries; Jeffs’ fifth try coming with a break from half way in which he rounded three Leamington defenders to score, and O’Neill neatly chipping over an advancing Leamington line and winning the race to touch down, together taking the final score to 51-19.  Next week OCs Coventry Colts make the long trip up the M6 to play Whitchurch Colts on Sunday 19th at 1pm in the second round of the National Colts Cup.

OC’s Coventry proved much the stronger of the two teams when they met in windy conditions at Web Ellis Road.  During the first half they secured an early lead when, following a scrum on the Lions 22, centre Calum Dewar took a crash ball at high speed to breach the Lions defence and coast over the line.  This lead was later doubled by second row, Sam Griffin, who showed tremendous pace about the park throughout the game, and was on hand when Rugby Lions spilled the ball near their own line, seizing it and sprinting over for a well-deserved try.  Possession was evenly balanced during this half and the home side engineered some strong attacks themselves, but OC’s Coventry further increased their lead to 0-15 just before half-time when, from their own 22, full back Dan Freeman and Dewar combined and spritely prop Paul Wilkes was in the right place to link with them and make a try-scoring pass to scrum-half Mattie Greenbank.

The second-half saw OC’s Coventry largely dominating possession and territory, their lively three-quarters frequently putting Lions on the defence and Freeman making several impressive breaks from full-back.  However, in the face of some gritty tackling by Lions and some careless errors they failed to convert their try several scoring opportunities.  In contrast, following a short period of pressure on the OC’s Coventry line, Lions’ James McGill succeeded in breaking through the defence, converting his own try to give a final score of 7-15.