By Paul Smith 
Tommy Mathews makes his competitive Coventry Rugby debut at Welford Road tomorrow when the Blue-and-Whites face Leicester in the second round of pool stage action in the Premiership Rugby Cup.
The 23-year-old fly half who joined Cov from Championship rivals Hartpury over the summer has been sidelined since mid-August by a knee injury sustained during the pre-season friendly against Moseley.
But having impressed in training in recent weeks, Mathews now steps in to the no.10 shirt vacated by Liam Richman who picked up an ankle injury during the second half of last week’s opening night bonus point win at Nottingham.
Cov’s backline at Lady Bay underwent regular positional switches due to yellow cards and injuries. The first of these saw Steff Davies’ impressive contribution end at the break but he has since recovered to take his place at full back against the Tigers.
This allows Charlie Robson to revert to the wing – where he played the opening 40 minutes last week – with ever-present Ryan Hutler named on the other flank.
Alex Rae retains the same midfield combination for a fourth consecutive match which means October player-of-the-month Daf Tiueti partners Tom Hitchcock in the centre.
Cov’s back five forwards are also retained en bloc which means the only changes to the run-on pack are at hooker where club captain Jordon Poole returns and loose head where Billy Nairau comes in.
Rae and his coaching team retain their usual six-two balance among the replacements with last week’s second-half eye-catchers David Opoku and Will Lane filling the two backs’ shirts.
Personnel switches among the forwards see prop Jevaughn Warren, lock Rhys Anstey and former Leicester junior academy no.8 Chester Owen introduced to the bench.
Cov’s boss acknowledged he is expecting a tough test at Leicester but also drew on the positive previous Welford Road experience that exists among Coventry’s squad.
“We’re expecting an incredibly tough game against a Leicester side who are enjoying an excellent season so far,” Rae said.
“We were talking earlier in the week and I won at Leicester as a player as did (forwards coach) James Scaysbrook, Matt Kvesic and Aaron Hinkley so there’s no big monster about Welford Road for us.
“We’re expecting to face a good mix of first team players and some very talented youngsters but whoever they pick they’ll feel a massive responsibility playing at home against local opponents.
“It was great to see Will Wand who left us in the summer play well for Leicester and score a try last week against Northampton. He just quietly goes about his business and is a brilliant rugby player who it will be really nice to see again.”
Coventry: Steff Davies; Charlie Robson, Daf-Rhys Tiueti, Tom Hitchcock, Ryan Hutler; Tommy Mathews, Josh Barton; Vilikesa Nairau, Jordon Poole, Matt Johnson; Obinna Nkwocha, Senitiki Nayalo; Tom Ball, Aaron Hinkley, Matt Kvesic.
Replacements: Suva Ma’asi, Jevaughn Warren, Eliot Salt, Rhys Anstey, James Tyas, Will Lane, David Opoku, Chester Owen
Tickets for Cov’s next home game against Northampton in the Premiership Rugby Cup on Saturday November 23rd are available via this link: https://www.coventryrugby.co.uk/tickets/
