Just what was needed, says Winter

A statement of intent was how director of rugby Rowland Winter assessed Coventry’s first-ever win at Blaydon.

After six previous unsuccessful visits, Cov secured a 25-19 victory built on a strong all-round team performance, particularly in defence, and taking their chances when they came – the first producing a try after just 12 seconds.

“It was a big statement, not just to get the monkey off the back in terms of the club’s history up here but also about our away form,” said Winter.

“It wasn’t the prettiest of performances or the best game of rugby I’ve ever seen, but we dogged it out and really put some heart into it.

“We battled from the first to the 80^th minute, and that was what was needed to get the win.

“There was some great defence, some big shots, and everyone worked hard. It needed a full squad effort, some of the boys did the hard yards early on which was superb and all the replacements added impact when they came on.

“I don’t think we got the reward in the scrum that we deserved, but today was about showing some battling qualities.

“We outworked them, we’ve not been able to say that too much this year, and we are really trying to finish the season with some momentum.”