By John Wilkinson 
DEFENCE coach James Pritchard believes that Coventry are moving in the right direction after their eight-try victory over Fylde but must now back it up with a similar performance against Plymouth Albion this Saturday.
Cov came back from a heavy defeat at Esher seven days earlier to beat Fylde 53-24, but Pritchard insists that feet have to remain firmly on the ground.
“We wanted a response from the boys, we wanted them to come out and basically show they wanted to play for the shirt,” he said. “We felt last week wasn’t good enough and wasn’t what we’re about as a team, so we asked for a response and I thought they brought it.
“We were by no means perfect, we are still a work in progress, but it’s little things at a time.
“We wanted the guys to take it to Fylde, we know the sort of game they like to play and we wanted to match it which I think we did.
“No-one’s getting carried away by this performance, we’re by no means a finished product and this week is going to be a big one for us because we haven’t put two wins together on the bounce just yet.
“That is our big goal now – at the moment we’ve been able to win at home and then when we go away, we haven’t been able to back it up the next week.
“No-one will be getting ahead of themselves, it’s about coming in on Monday, getting our heads down, back to the grind, and we’ll look to go again on Saturday.
“We are looking good in our structures and our defence is coming. There are times when its letting us down and personally I still think we are giving away too many tries, but as a defence coach I’m never going to be happy unless the scoreboard is zero. But attack-wise, it’s there or thereabouts.”
After joining from Bedford in the summer to take up his first full club coaching role, Pritchard concedes that it is impossible to say how long it will take Cov’s squad to fully knit together.
“I don’t think you can put a timeline on a new squad’s development,” he said. “Personally, I thought we would have been good to go from the start of the season, but then I’m new to coaching.
“I went through the same thing when I was at Bedford, it took us a good year when we changed our personnel to actually get going. We had to go through some very down times.
“We are showing glimpses and you can see the progress.
“The frustrating thing for me is we’re showing bad aspects as well. I know we’re a lot better, I know the personnel here and I know we’re a top four contender, or top two, for this league, and that’s why it’s so frustrating when we go away to the Eshers and Blackheaths and we don’t put in the performance that I know we’re capable of.
“Attacking wise, in every game we’ve put together good facets of play whether for 10 minutes, 40 or 60, but we’ve still to hit the 80-minute mark. It’s just about weathering those periods when things are going against us and then coming out at the other end and putting together a spell when we play blistering rugby.”
