By Coventry Rugby 
Coventry Rugby centre Dafydd-Rhys Tiueti believes both his own game and the squad’s collective identity have taken significant strides as the season has progressed, with confidence building at a crucial stage of the campaign.
Reflecting on his performances so far, Tiueti has been focused on bringing his strengths to the fore while building strong partnerships in midfield.
“For me personally, it’s been about implementing my strengths into each game – bringing physicality and my offloading game into matches, and working well with my fellow centres, whether that’s MAJ (Morgan Adderly-Jones), Oli (Oli Morris) or Api (Api Bavadra),” he said.
That growing cohesion has translated into a more defined attacking style for the group, something Tiueti feels has come to the fore in recent weeks.
“As a team, we’ve grown a lot over the past five or six games. We’ve found our identity playing nice, attacking rugby and using our offloading game, which teams have struggled to deal with.”
Now in his second season at the club, Tiueti has spoken positively about the environment at Coventry and the role it has played in his development, both on and off the pitch.
“It’s been a brilliant experience. I’ve been lucky enough to be part of a great group of lads in both seasons, which makes it a lot easier to perform on the pitch,” he explained. “The coaching staff have really helped me grow as a player by encouraging me to express myself in training and bring out my strengths.”
He also highlighted the impact of backs coach Gordon “Gordo” Ross, adding:
“Gordo especially has helped me over the past season and a half to always be positive and focus on what I’m good at.”
With the play-off picture beginning to take shape, Tiueti is clear about his ambitions for the remainder of the season – both individually and collectively.
“Personally, I just want to play the best I can for the team and help get us into a play-off spot,” he said. “And obviously, the aim is to win the whole competition. Once you’re in the play-offs, it’s knockout rugby – anything can happen.”
Despite that bigger picture, the centre insists the squad’s focus remains firmly on the immediate challenges ahead, starting with a crucial fixture against Chinnor.
“We’re taking it game by game. We’ve got a big chance against Chinnor to move up the league table and put ourselves in a great position for the play-offs,” he said. “The play-offs are in the back of our minds, but the most important thing is finishing the season strongly and building good form heading into them.”
Chinnor, who handed Coventry a defeat earlier in the season, present a stern test – but Tiueti believes the group is better prepared this time around.
“They’ve been on flying form, and that defeat away earlier in the season was no fluke – they’ve shown they can punish any team on their day,” he admitted. “Since then, though, we’ve matured and grown as a group and know exactly what sort of challenge we’re facing.”
While the fixture carries clear significance in terms of league position, the focus remains inward.
“It’s a massive game, but we don’t read into it too much. We’re very focused on ourselves and what we can do as a team to get the win.”
Tickets for Coventry Rugby vs Chinnor RFC on Saturday 31st January 15:00 KO are available at www.coventryrugby.co.uk/tickets/
