Coventry may indeed have ‘’won’’ the second half of this match 19pts-7, what their followers will not have forgotten however is the 40 plus minutes which preceded it.

The first half performance from the Blue & Whites ranks amongst the worst produced by a Coventry side at home in a long, long time. Yes, they were facing the elements, but the complete absence of any meaningful performance in that first half left the home faithful both bemused and indeed very quiet

Having suffered such horrors, lack of tackling in particular in certain key areas being a very strong negative, the squad at least deserve praise for taking on board whatever was said at half time. Whereas previously ineffective tackling had contributed significantly to the situation, that area of play and others improved significantly and all of a sudden with ball in hand, the whole side looked far more positive. Donovan Sanders in the centre in particular at this stage proved to be by far the most potent home back, his incisive running having a big hand in two of the three tries which followed.

After the first twenty minutes however, Coventry found themselves 17-0 down and staring down the barrel as the Chiefs , retaining large amounts of possession, used it positively. Cov in the meantime losing Jack Cobden following a bang to his knee. Any purposeful recovery looked a million miles away the longer the first half progressed.

Exeter had been given the bonus of a real sucker punch try after just 6 minutes, hooker Blythe being allowed to run in virtually unchallenged from the home ‘’22’’ after receiving a tap back from a lineout. Worse was to follow on 18 minutes, Junior Fatialofa bursting through non existent tackling for try number two, followed two minutes later by brother Mark finishing off a move begun in the Chiefs half. Ben Toft did put in a fine despairing tackle on Geraghty to halt the initial surge, Fatialofa up in support however finished off. Fortunately Gray was only able to convert one of the three tries. Had a Luff break on the half hour also been finished off as it probably should have been, Cov would have been looking at a 30 point deficit by half time, as it was a fourth try did come two minutes before the break, Mark Fatialofa again finishing for Gray to convert.

With a half time regroup and the wind behind them, Coventry did at least come out firing, quite a few of the disappointed home fans having not returned in time to their seats to see the beginnings of the comeback. On 43 minutes, Donovan Sanders made the first of his telling breaks from 40 metres, before releasing Ben Russell for his third try of the season, the skipper’s conversion immediately improving home morale. With Exeter now finding themselves far more on the back foot, try number two came in the 62^nd minute. After the visitors had given away a five metre scrum, Cov kept up the pressure with finally replacement prop Rudi Brits crashing over, Russell missing the conversion.

Any realistic hope that the revival might turn into a win however finally evaporated shortly afterwards when in a rare Exeter second half entry into the home ‘’22’’, hooker Blythe was driven over for his second try, Gray converting for 31-12.

Cov kept plugging away and were finally rewarded when Logon Kirisome crossed for his maiden club try two minutes from the end of normal time, Ben Russell’s fine wide angled conversion however coming too late to change the result. Another superb break from Sanders right on full time might have lead to an important fourth try, unfortunately the final pass to Kirisome being just a little low. A converted try however would have meant two bonus points, but with the final whistle blowing, even that hope disappeared.

There can be no doubt, the squad desperately need a win to help re build confidence and to kick start the season again. The build up to Christmas with two difficult away matches coming up is only though likely to get even tougher.

Coventry. Ben Toft, Jack Cobden, Donovan Sanders, Ben Russell (Capt), Logon Kirisome, Myles Dorrian, Tom Slater, Dai Maddocks, Chris Whitehead, Carl Rimmer, Gregor Gillanders, Ollie Hodge, Henno Venter, Darren Clayton, Laurie McGlone.

Replacements; Stuart Friswell, Rudi Brits, Danny Hodge, Ian Nimmo, Mike Walls, Kurt Johnson, Jamie Miller.

Coventry. Tries; Ben Russell, Rudi Brits, Logon Kirisome. Conversions; Russell 2

Exeter. Tries; Sam Blythe 2, Mark Fatialofa 2, Junior Fatialofa. Conversions; Danny Gray 3

Referee; Andy MacPherson (Scotland)