By formation 
by David Lawrence
WINGER David Opoku scored five tries to set a new Coventry record and help ease his side to a convincing victory over their out of sorts visitors.
Boosted by a brace of yellow cards – one at either end of the opening period – they had the bonus point in the back by the break with their four-try haul and then added another seven after the interval.
An early sin bin for Nottingham’s Ryan Olowefela for a deliberate knock-on was quickly followed by an opening try on ten minutes from Matt Kvesic, Tommy Matthews kicking the extras.
Opoku then showed his lightning pace to run out to a Sam Maunder kick ahead to claim his first on 15 minutes and then dotted down again in the same corner three minutes later, Matthews the provider with the kick this time in behind the visitors’ defensive line.
There should have been a fourth score on the stroke of half-time but back row Tom Ball failed to ground the ball but Cov still secured the bonus by the break when the referee awarded them a penalty try after a rolling maul was dragged down just short of the line, Nottingham hooker Jack Dickinson seeing yellow for his part in the misdemeanour.
The East Midlanders had hopes of a fightback ignited within six minutes of the restart when scrum-half Will Yarnell broke through a tackle before popping the ball to no8 James Cherry to score out wide.
But those hopes were dashed within four minutes when a break from full-back Logan Trotter led to Opoku claiming his hat-trick.
From that point on it was one-way traffic with the Coventry replacements eager to get in on the act, starting with Aaron Hinkley who dotted down for the sixth try just before the hour mark.
Another good break from Trotter saw him set-up Opoku for his record-equalling score five minutes later by which time the home side were scoring at will.
Centre Tom Hitchcock was another to impress off the bench and some slick handling between himself and Jake Henry saw him claim the eighth try on 68 minutes before replacement Will Lane nipped in for another just two minutes later.
The Cov fans were enjoying their afternoon in the sun and there were still two more scores for them to cheer including Opoku’s record-breaking fifth of the game with the lively Trotter again providing the final pass.
It was then left to Hitchcock to round off the win in the final minute after replacement scrum-half Josh Barton had broken through a tired and disheartened Nottingham line, Matthews kicking the extras for his fifth conversion of the game.
Line-Ups:
Coventry: Trotter; Opoku, Henry, Morris (Hitchcock 58), Martin (Lane 61); Mathews, Maunder (Barton 58); Trinder (McEachran 58) Ma’asi (Poole 52), Johnson (Warren 58); Anstey, Graham (Green 52); Ball (Hinkley 52), Kvesic, Owen.
Nottingham: Stapley; Williams, Christian-Goss (M Green 52), Pohe, Olowofela; Parks (Threlfall 10), Yarnell (Goodwin 57); Owen (Sio 45), Dickinson (Harris 61), Loman (Richardson 45); Ecclesfield, Shine; S Green (Valentine 61), Wright (Clayton 52), Cherry.
Referee: Ian Tempest
Half-Time: Coventry 24-0 Nottingham
Attendance: 2,867
Scorers:
Coventry
Tries: Opoku (15, 18, 50, 65, 77), Hitchcock (68, 79), Kvesic (10), Penalty (40), Hinkley (59), Lane (70)
Conversions: Mathews (10, 59, 68, 70, 79)
Penalties:
Nottingham
Tries: Cherry (46)
Conversions:
Penalties:
