By Paul Smith 
Plenty of water has since gone under the bridge for both clubs, and despite Cov having claimed the spoils in September Cov head coach Alex Rae is very aware that Hartpury have caused Cov plenty of problems over the years in both National One and the Championship.
“Hartpury is always a difficult fixture,” he said. “You never know who might be involved for them from Gloucester or Bristol and they are always well-organised.
“They are tough up front, have a really good maul and also play some good rugby and score tries.
“Coming into the game on the back of a loss we have a point to prove but we also know if we’re not right where we need to be we will come unstuck pretty quickly as Hartpury are always a good team.”
Fijian prop Vilikesa Nairau has now had a full week training with his new club and his new head coach expects the Butts Park Arena crowd to enjoy seeing Cov’s new signing in action.
“There’s not many Fijian props playing anywhere in England let alone in the Championship, so it’s an interesting one,” Rae said.
“Everyone is excited about Vili because when you look at him and see his size and speed you can see he’s a bit different and has plenty of potential.
“We also need to be patient with him as he’s only 21 and has come from the other side of the world and is having to adjust pretty quickly to the cold and to a different way of life.
“But he has lots of really good physical attributes and after seeing some video of him I spoke to a few people and we decided to get him on board.
“We’ve had a few front row injuries in recent weeks so we’re hopeful that he will do a job for us and from what we’ve seen so far we could well have a good player on our hands.”
The visitors go into Saturday’s clash on the back of a league campaign which has seen a win at Cambridge offset by defeats at Doncaster and Bedford while Ealing and most recently Nottingham have lowered Hartpury’s colours on their home patch.
Having played five games, Hartpury therefore sit one position and two points behind seventh-placed Cov who following the demise of Jersey Reds have enjoyed one fewer outing than their next opponents.
A bonus point win would therefore put Cov back in the top half of the table ahead of their trip to Cambridge and Boxing Day home game against Nottingham, while the blue-and-whites have the added incentive of maintaining an unbeaten home record spanning 15 games over the last 14 months.
Tickets for Coventry’s Championship home game against Hartpury on Saturday are available from: https://www.coventryrugby.co.uk/tickets/matchday-tickets/
