COVENTRY had been threatening a full 80-minute performance for some time, and director of rugby Rowland Winter was delighted that it finally came in a crushing 73-8 win at Old Albanian.
Cov ran in 11 tries in the St Albans sunshine to register the club’s highest score and biggest winning margin away from home in league rugby.
“Our weakness this year has been taking our foot off the gas, so today I was probably most pleased that we kept constant pressure on,” said Winter “We kept our execution levels high and we were clinical with our finishing.
“I was really pleased with the attitude. Our defence was strong, we wanted to nil them on tries and didn’t quite get there, but today the boys were outstanding.
“We had a couple of forced early changes with injuries to Jake Byrne and Tom Jubb, but the boys stood up well. The bigger lads up front did 80 minutes, and we played exceptionally well – that’s probably one of our best performances of the season.
“They had a lot of early possession, but we were comfortable to pin them back and make sure we used a little bit of the wind, play ‘good heads’ rugby and take our opportunities when they came.
“I think we did that, we were clinical and every chance we got, we took points.
“At half-time we just reminded them of the Macclesfield game at home when we were a lot of points up at the break and didn’t come through in the second half, and we also mentioned the Loughborough and Plymouth games.
“That’s six wins on the bounce, and it’s a Coventry team that’s got far more to come. Today is an indication of what we can do, scoring tries for fun and defending strongly, but there’s a lot more to come, and as the team sticks together and builds together, we’ll get results like that.”
Will Maisey added another 21 points to his tally for the season, while winger Max Trimble joined Coventry’s list of league hat-trick scorers.
Said Winter: “Max came through and showed that he’s undefendable at times with his pace and his running lines.
“He’s turning into a very clever rugby player, and considering where he has come from in his rugby, today was a showcase performance.”