By Paul Smith 
After a month of hard pre-season graft Coventry Rugby’s players, coaches and support staff last week enjoyed what head coach Alex Rae describes as a “well-earned week off.”
Other than James Tyas who is recuperating from the serious ankle injury sustained in his club’s final league game of the season at Cornish Pirates and new signing Matt Johnson whose summer is being spent playing Shute Shield rugby in Sydney, Cov’s full squad have been putting in the hard yards through July.
And according to Rae the timing of this break fits extremely well with the programme planned for August and early September.
“We’ve already done four weeks and they have flown by,” he says. “It’s been great to see so many of the lads with smiles on their faces enjoying themselves and as a result it’s been a really good first month.
“After four weeks of hard work it’s important to have some rest and to re-energise and we’re having the week off with that in mind.
“We’ve got a really early pre-season game against Moseley on August 24th which will help us break up our training as it will be good to have a match to focus on.
“The timing of this isn’t completely by design if I’m honest as there’s a few things to consider with Moseley’s National One season starting a couple of weeks ahead of the Championship, but we’re still very much looking forward to it.”
In the middle of last season Rae took his squad for an ‘away day’ training at Rugby School and they have also already enjoyed sessions away from the Butts Park Arena this summer.
Cov’s boss also plans to take the players on a residential trip in August with the help of the club’s main partner Food Heroes.
“We have a training camp planned for a few days in Lincolnshire thanks to the kind support of Simon Martin at Food Heroes,” he said.
“It will be really good for everyone to spend time together which will really help bond this new group. That sort of trip helps build connections as you always come back with a few memories and some good stories.
“It’s very easy for everything to be about rugby while we’re at the Butts, but by going elsewhere for a few days the lads get to know each other much better while they’re seeing each other in a different space.”
Pre-season friendlies at the Butts Park Arena:
August 24th (3pm kick off) Coventry Rugby v Birmingham Moseley
September 13th (7.30pm kick off) Coventry Rugby v Chinnor
These games are included in season memberships which are available here: https://www.coventryrugby.co.uk/membership/
Match tickets are available via this link: https://www.coventryrugby.co.uk/tickets/
