By Paul Smith 
by Paul Smith – Photos by John Coles
Coventry Rugby head coach Alex Rae cut a relatively happy figure following his team’s 61-21 pre-season win over Birmingham Moseley.
Cov scored nine tries in total with a productive spell either side of half-time delivering eight of them as Cov racked up 54 unanswered points in just 33 minutes.
But Rae was more interested in the performance than the scoreline as his team builds towards a Championship campaign that is still a month away.
“I’m happy overall, it was a good run out and everyone got minutes although we were really rusty through the whole game,” he said.
“I know it’s weird saying that when the score line is as it is but in all honesty we’re exactly where we expected to be. There’s some good bits, some bad bits and some bits to work on.
“The good thing is we’re going to get our first proper review of a game rather than of training and we will learn from that.
“It was a bit of a frustrating first half for the lads. It was slow, stop-start and exactly what you’d expect from our first proper hit-out.
“The boys who came on at half-time then brought some good energy and buzz which we’re really pleased about as for quite a few of them it’s the first time they have been together and played at the Butts.”
Rae’s forwards made life extremely difficult for Moseley at the lineout where they stole plenty of their opponents’ throws despite taking what their boss described as a ‘sticking to basics’ approach.
“We had a really simple, basic lineout menu this week,” he said.
“We had the same options over and over so as a caller it was probably difficult and boring and in season it will be a lot different.
“We were just looking to practice stuff we’ve done in training and real basics like the lift detail and the boys were great.
“The only way we get better is having those situations to review – and the same applies to the scrum and the maul.
“There’s loads of stuff to work on and we’re miles off where we want to be, but we will get there over the next month.”
