It was a familiar scenario at the newly-named Nick Newbold Stadium on Friday Night under lights in Round 24 of the Champ. Cambridge dominated the early exchanges, failed to get over the line twice in quick succession, went behind, pegged themselves back and went into the break with a competitive score on the board.
Head Coach Craig Newby was disappointed with his side’s failure to get on the score board whilst they were on top, saying, “Two tries missed in the first five minutes because we were soft – we made a really good line break then were pushed into touch. Then a quick tap and we spill the ball over the line. Just soft”. That disappointment was compounded later as Coventry signalled their intent with a try against the run of play through back row Allan Ferrie – converted by Tommy Matthews who ended up with a perfect evening off the tee with 11 successful attempts to add the extras.
Sam Maunder added another in short order before Cambridge reduced the deficit with John Stewart touching down off the back of a driving maul. Tom Threlfall landed the conversion – but, despite being down to 14 after a 20 minutes red card for Jack Shine for a late shot on Rhys Fulford, Cov extended their lead with a dash from deep by Api Bavadra. In short order, a yellow card for hosts’ prop Aristot Benz-Salomon precipitated a penalty try to Cambridge but Cov went in at the break 28-14 ahead following another flowing move from the 13 players left on the park ended with Morgan Strong dotting down under the sticks.
After the restart, Bavadra added his second. Jack Reeves went over for the first of his pair. And Cov ran riot with a total of eleven tries as Cambridge ran out of steam.
Newby didn’t pull any punches afterward: “We were too easy to beat today. Cov didn’t have to earn that – they’re a good team but they didn’t have to work that hard in the end. I was disappointed at half time – at 28-14 it was how do we get the next points? We just didn’t win any moments after the break. I’m pretty heartbroken today. Guys have to front up – we didn’t do that enough today”.
Teams
Coventry
Bacon, Opoku, Morris, Bavadra, Reeves, Matthews, Maunder; Benz-Salomon, Davidson, Salt, Shine, Nayalo, Green, Ferrie, Strong
Replacements
Poole, Lines, Johnson, Graham, Sukani Nayagi, Barton, Adderley-Jones, Tiueti
Cambridge
Currie, Izu, Reweti, Quaniuci, Caven, Threlfall, Dawson; Ellwood, Stewart, Wulf-Masoe, McCay, Baxter, Fulford, Eckersley, Adams
Reinforcements
Doorey-Palmer, Maka, Roussow, Friend, Thomas, Beamand, Thorne, Johnson
Scorers
Coventry
Tries – Ferrie 13,63; Maunder 17, Bavadra 30, 45; Strong 39, 79; Reeves 48, 71, Green 52, Nayalo 57
Conversions – Matthews 13, 17, 30, 39, 45, 48, 52, 57, 63, 71, 79
Cambridge
Tries – Stewart 26, penalty 37
Conversion – Threlfall 27
Penalties Conceded 11-9
Lineouts Won 16-9
Lineouts Lost 3-1
Scrums Won 3-3
Scrums Lost 0-0
Yellow/Red
1/1 – 1/0
