By Paul Smith 
With 36 players including a couple of experience-seeking under-18s involved, Coventry Rugby’s pre-Premiership Rugby Cup training sessions have this week been busy affairs.
Prior to this, six consecutive weekends of action left Cov nursing a few minor knocks, but the week of recuperation that followed their battling win at Caldy has since served its purpose.
As a result only longer-term absentee Jake Henry sat out training on Monday and Tuesday, a situation which according to head coach Alex Rae then creates a different set of headaches for Cov’s management and coaching team.
“We’ve got really good numbers at the moment and forwards-wise we’ve pretty much got a full house this week,” he said.
“It was also great to have a couple of the academy lads with the senior squad for the first time.
“It’s a really healthy situation to have so much competition in training although that does then give us some selection problems.
“We’ve been having tough conversations all week about who is going to play at Nottingham but we’d much rather be in that position than turning up and already knowing who will be in the team.
“The players all know if they put their hand up in training they’ve got every chance of being involved. We’ll pick what we think is the right team to win the game each week based on who is performing well in training and on match day.
“We want to do really well in the cup and our priority is qualifying for the quarter-finals. We’re definitely not therefore in a position where we approach it like pre-season and give everyone a game.”
Cov claimed a home-and-away league double over Nottingham last season, but the teams by then had already battled out an early-season cup draw at the BPA.
Given that the Archers’ impressive start to 2024/25 has included a win over much-fancied Doncaster Cov’s boss is expecting a stiff test under the Lady Bay lights on Friday evening (kick off 7.45pm).
“Nottingham have lost twice in the league so far but they’re in the top half of the table and they’ve taken a couple of good scalps along the way including Donny,” he said.
“They play a good expansive style of rugby and are always looking to offload in contact and keep the ball alive.
“They also seem to have gone much better up front this season than in the recent past so they have a decent all-round game and we’re expecting a bit of a battle.
“They’ve had the same group of players together now for a year or two, they’re comfortable in their style of rugby and seem to have a good buzz about them.
“I’m expecting a really hard game – in fact it could end up being the toughest game of the three in this first three-round cup block.”
Tickets for Cov’s next home game in the cup against Northampton on Saturday November 23rd can be purchased at https://www.coventryrugby.co.uk/tickets/matchday-tickets/
