By Paul Smith 
Coventry return to action following a week-long break knowing they face perhaps the toughest fortnight of their season to date.
Next Saturday brings a trip to champions-elect Ealing which requires nothing by way of further introduction and prior to that Cov host a Cornish Pirates side against whom their recent record is distinctly patchy.
Since returning to English rugby’s second tier in 2018 Coventry have won only three of their 11 Championship clashes with the Penzance-based Pirates.
The clubs’ most-recent encounter prior to Christmas saw the Blue-and-Whites’ exciting seven-match unbeaten start to the league season come to an abrupt halt through a resounding 46-14 defeat.
Despite the very different weather and pitch conditions under which this week’s contest take place, head coach Alex Rae is expecting an equally testing afternoon when he believes his team’s togetherness and spirit will be especially important.
“The the fight we showed two weeks ago in the second half at Hartpury was brilliant and as long as we have that we know we’re doing alright,” he said.
“With us having quite a few injuries and drafting in some loan players it’s a funny time of year. Ideally we’d have everyone fit and be picking from our strongest group of players but we haven’t.
“Showing that fighting spirit therefore becomes doubly important – of course we want to win games but the manner of our performance is important as well.
“Over recent weeks we’ve played in patches rather than putting in a full 80 minutes and that needs to be a focus this weekend.”
Coventry’s bench has made a big impact during the second-half of the season with the away win at Chinnor and last-second defeat at Hartpury being prominent examples.
With his squad still badly hit by injury Rae acknowledges this will be the case until the likes of experienced forwards Matt Kvesic and Matt Johnson, who are both nearing fitness, rejoin the matchday 23.
He said: “It has to be a 23-man effort at the moment for us and led by Sam Maunder who was brilliant our replacements made a huge impact again at Hartpury.
“The average age of our pack by the end of that game was around 20 and it won’t be much different this week due to Senitiki (Nayalo) being away with the British Army.
“Although it isn’t getting any easier in some ways it is exciting to see young players get an opportunity at this level. It’s painful losing the odd game now but the likes of Chester Owen (pictured above) and Dan Green who are 19 or 20 can only be better for the experience.
“Looking at the fixtures remaining I can see the clubs behind Ealing swapping places every week through May. Whoever can put a consistent run together will finish second and we’ve got a consistent run of five games with three at home which is important.”
Tickets for Cov’s home game against Cornish Pirates on Saturday May 3rd (3pm kick off) can be purchased at https://www.coventryrugby.co.uk/tickets/matchday-tickets/
