By Coventry Rugby 
by David Lawrence
Coventry put in a sizzling second half display to round the season off with an eight-try victory over visitors London Scottish.
Trailing by three points at the break, they claimed a quick-fire double soon after the restart before a yellow card for Exiles winger Franklin McMillan – their third of the game – was punished by three more as the home side made their extra man count.
Coventry made the perfect start, opening their tally in the fifth minute. A driving maul had been hauled down just short of the line moments earlier but when the penalty was kicked to touch, another catch and drive routine saw the ball popped up for scrum-half Sam Maunder to power to the line. Tommy Mathews kicked the conversion from wide on the left.
Mistakes then littered much of the next 20 minutes with passes going to ground and Cov’s line-out faltering and the Exiles took full advantage with two tries in four minutes.
It was another driving maul that led to their first on 35 minutes, hooker Austin Wallis getting his hands on the ball after a huge effort from his fellow forwards.
Then more good work from the pack took Scottish deep into Coventry territory before an angled run from Rob McCallum created space for the pass to scrum-half Dan Nutton who finished off under the posts to hand Josh Bellamy the simplest of conversions to edge his side into a 12-7 lead.
The visitors were reduced to 14 just after the half-hour when flanker Jack Ingall was sent to the sin bin, paying the price for a catalogue of offsides.
And within a minute, Cov made their extra man count when full-back Liam Richman floated a pass out to winger Jake Henry to score in the corner, Mathews bagging the extras from a tricky angle.
The Exiles scored their third try of the afternoon on 37 minutes when Bellamy gathered his own grubber kick to score from close range before the half ended with a mass brawl that saw Coventry back row Chester Owen and Scottish prop Ashley Challenge yellow carded.
The lead swung back in the home side’s favour when Maunder dotted down for his second try on 55 minutes following a powerful run from Rhys Anstey with Henry then claiming his second soon after.
Wallis ran in his second and Scottish’s bonus try from inside his own half but when McMillan was sin binned for taking his man out in the air, the Exiles’ challenge was over.
Speedster Logan Trotter ran in two tries in three minutes – one on each wing – before Will Lane added a seventh try following a bullocking run from replacement prop Jevaughn Warren.
There was still time for both sides to add their finishing touches to the try-fest with winger Matt Gribbon rounding off a sweet passing move for the visitors before Mathews dotted down with the final play of the game, Henry and Trotter again massively involved.
Line-Ups:
Coventry: Richman (Mannion 50); Trotter, Morris (Lane 41), Hitchcock, Henry; Mathews, Maunder (Barton 57); Trinder (Salt 72), Poole (Biggs 57), Johnson (Warren 57); Anstey, Nayalo; Ball, Kvesic (Ma’asi 50), Owen (Green 50).
London Scottish: Bellamy; Gribbon, McCallum, Simonds, McMillan; Wilstead (Sheppard 57), Nutton (Law 50); Prior (Cave 54), Wallis (Doorey-Palmer 72), Challenger; Wilkinson, Carr; Ransom (Staples 72), Ingall (Barrett 56 (Ashworth 78)), Marshall (Davies 56).
Referee: Ben Wood
Half-Time: 14-17
Attendance: 3,186
Scorers:
Coventry
Tries: Maunder 5, 55, Henry 34, 60, Trotter 69, 71, Lane 73, Mathews 80
Conversions: Mathews 5, 34, 55, 60, 69,
Penalties:
London Scottish
Tries: Wallis 25, 62, Nutton 29, Bellamy 37, Gribbon 77
Conversions: Bellamy 29, 62, 77
Penalties:
