By Paul Smith 
Ahead of his team’s Championship campaign which begins with Caldy’s visit to the Butts Park Arena on Saturday 28thOctober, Coventry Rugby skipper Jordon Poole has taken plenty of encouragement from their Premiership Rugby Cup displays.
Cov exited at the pool stage following defeat at Gloucester, but according to the 26-year-old hooker their performance at Kingsholm plus two wins and two draws from their opening four games provided grounds for optimism.
“Our performance against Saracens was one of the best I have been involved with in my time in a Cov shirt and we also went to-to-toe with both Harlequins and Gloucester,” he said.
“The competition gave us a chance to show what we’re capable of and we did that. We know we’re a good side when we nail everything and we managed that a couple of times.
“Last season our better performances came against the likes of Ealing, Jersey and Doncaster which showed we can lift ourselves for the big games. It was pleasing to hear the credit that Gloucester gave us after the game at Kingsholm, as they obviously thought that we performed well.”
Poole said that the squad were disappointed not to progress to the last four but pleased with what they learned along the way.
“No-one should doubt that our focus was on trying to win all the games, to qualify for the semi-finals and ultimately to win it,” he said.
“The draws with Quins and especially Nottingham are frustrating as we could have won both games and that would have put a totally different slant on the Gloucester game when they only needed one point but we had to get all five.
“I felt that we learned quite a bit from the cup campaign both on an individual and team basis. Along with the rest of the leadership group I certainly had a few decisions to make on the pitch and going through that will serve us all well in the future.”
Poole identified big contributions from the experienced Will Chudley and Matt Kvesic as being crucial to Cov’s good start to the season before paying tribute to Will Wand’s electric displays in the blue-and-white midfield.
“Lots of people did well but we must give a special mention to Will Wand who has been named on the shortlist for Championship player-of-the-month for his performances in the cup,” Cov’s skipper said. “He was phenomenal in all the games but especially against Sarries and Gloucester.
“Will doesn’t say a lot on the pitch but instead lets his performances speak for themselves. His stats in training and matches are incredible – he just runs and runs.”
Coventry are unbeaten at the Butts Park Arena since October 2022 – a run of 14 matches in all competitions. To see if they can extend this run against Caldy on Saturday October 28th purchase a ticket here.
