Coming on the back of three excellent wins, this really was a big case of back to earth with a bump.

In the words of a number of the Nottingham locals, their belief was their side had produced some of their best form of the season in the first half as Cov crashed to a 35 -0 deficit.

Thankfully, defence wise ,Coventry did tighten up a little after the interval with Nottingham going some half an hour without scoring, but there could never be the slightest doubt about their supremacy overall as they ran in eight tries.

For Coventry, after recent heroics, it was bitterly disappointing afternoon, with the hosts particularly in the first half being given far to much space to create passing moves with Cov’s tackling also letting them down on numerous occasions.

Attacking wise as well it became a desperately difficult afternoon, for despite quite reasonable quantities of possession and position, there simply wasn’t a sufficient cutting edge to break down a stubborn Nottingham defence.

Early play was pretty even with Coventry pegging their hosts back ,but once the first try was conceded after 8 minutes and a second 16 minutes later, the floodgates really opened quite dangerously for an overworked defence.

From a Coventry perspective, the best moments in the first half apart from the opening forays came when a promising move on 11 minutes saw Sam Herrington charge into the home 22, Laurie McGlone being held in the left hand corner. More forward pressure followed on the half hour before a penalty was conceded in the Nottingham 22. Meanwhile the hosts had moved into a big lead, Dodge, Jackson, the impressive Duffey playing in his last home match, Rouse and Cobden all running in tries, with Jackson converting three and landing a penalty.

If Cov hoped for a change in fortunes on the resumption, those thoughts were quickly dispelled with Montagu adding another try on 43 minutes, Jackson again converting. For a lengthy period however without ever really coming close to a score themselves as they probed away, Coventry at least tightened their defences before Nottingham ran in two further tries in the final seven minutes through replacement Pilgrim, Jackson converting both.

For Cov in defeat there was at least the knowledge that on home soil in six days time they did at least have the opportunity of another tilt at their East Midlands rivals who themselves still hope to clinch fourth spot in the Division.

Coventry. Ben Russell, Ollie Winter, Ronnie McLean, Donovan Sanders, Ben Toft, Myles Dorrian, Mike Walls, Kevin Davis, Chris Whitehead (Capt),Rob Dugard, Sam Herrington, Ollie Atkinson, Henno Venter, Jamie Miller, Laurie McGlone.

Replacements; Stewart Pearl for Whitehead, Ricky Whitehall for Davis, Dave Addleton for Herrington, Kurt Johnson for Toft, Tom Slater for Walls, Tommy Hayes for McLean.

Not used; George Dixon.

Nottingham. Tries; Alex Dodge, David Jackson, Joe Duffey, Nic Rouse, Jack Cobden, Dan Montague, Chris Pilgrim 2. Conversions; Jackson 6. Penalty goal; Jackson