By formation 
Picture shows Coventry’s leading try-scorer Ryan Hutler on his way to the line during the first cup clash with Nottingham (credit: John Coles)
by Paul Smith
Coventry Rugby head coach Alex Rae believes three consecutive weeks of cup action presents his team with a great opportunity to make a mark on Premiership opponents.
Cov host East Midlands rivals Nottingham this Saturday (2pm kick off) before travelling to English champions Northampton then welcoming Leicester Tigers to the Butts Park Arena on February 15th.
And having claimed two wins from the three reverse fixtures in November, the Blue-and-Whites now know three further successes will clinch a place in the quarter-finals.
“It’s nice to park the league for a few weeks and go back into the Prem Cup,” Rae said.
“We’re in a great position now to push on and qualify for a quarter-final and that starts on Saturday. We need to perform well against Nottingham and after that there’s no reason why we can’t go and turn Northampton over like we did Leicester in November.
“When people ask me about qualifying in second place and bonus points and stuff like that I tell them we’re still trying to win the group at the moment and I won’t think about anything else until we can’t.
“The easy way to look at it is to win our home games then go to Franklin’s Gardens and see what we can do there. But we are aware that every bonus point could end up counting so we have to keep that in the back of our minds.”
Cov have been badly hit by injuries during the last few weeks but their head coach refuses to dwell on missing players.
“At the moment we’re down to the bare bones a bit with our injuries so we’re doing it tough but it’s good to see the lads roll up their sleeves and get on with it,” he said.
“That’s the way it goes sometimes and in this league you get used to working with small squads and working round injuries as we don’t have the luxury of 50-man squads and a big full-time academy.
“It is what it is and we don’t moan about it. Every injury presents an opportunity to someone else and we find a way.”
Leicester and Northampton are both without their international players during the Six Nations period within which this competition is played.
And according to Rae attempting to work out who Cov may face during the next three weeks is a futile exercise.
“We saw when Northampton came to us in November that they sent pretty much the strongest team they could,” he said. “They were only missing one or two outside those who were away in the Autumn internationals.
“But you can never tell how the other clubs are doing with injuries and what their schedule looks like. If there are a few with bumps and bruises they may choose to give them a rest and prioritise the league.
“It’s very hard to judge what the Premiership clubs will do with their selection for each game but they all have some very good young players in their academies so whoever they send we know we’ll be up against some quality.
“All we can really do at this stage is worry about ourselves. In the game at Leicester the boys gave a tremendous account of themselves and of the Championship; we know we’re capable of that so now it’s about finding that form and kicking on.”
Tickets for Cov’s home game in the cup against Nottingham on Saturday (2pm kick off) can be purchased at https://www.coventryrugby.co.uk/tickets/matchday-tickets/
