By formation 
Club captain Jordon Poole has recovered from his recent illness and is in contention to play against Bedford Blues on Saturday.
The experienced hooker suffered a leg infection which kept him out of Cov’s pre-season game with Chinnor and last Friday’s league opener at London Scottish.
But he is now back in full training and as a result head coach Alex Rae faces a difficult selection decision between his inspirational skipper and Suva Ma’asi who put in a stand-out display during Cov’s 19-45 win at the RAG.
“Pooley possibly could have played last week but we thought we’d be cautious,” Rae said.
“Suva played really well against Scottish – at times when you watch him he has no thought for his body as he flies into tackles and contact. He’s a brilliant lad who is very committed, really loves the game and epitomises what we want to be as a team.
“Jordon is a really good professional who has done a great job as captain for the last couple of years. He also brings the same energy and physicality that Suva does and we’re delighted to have them both.
“For the last two seasons they have pushed each other really hard. We’re really comfortable with either man playing and the competition has driven them both on to be better players.
“In the modern game having two really quality hookers is essential as you’re not looking for them to play 80 minutes so being able to have the option to swap them at 50 minutes is really good for us.”
Bedford are one of Cov’s oldest opponents and this Saturday the Blue-and-Whites face a quick reunion with full back Louis James who departed the BPA for Goldington Road in the summer.
It is also where Rae played a good chunk of his career and he freely admits the match therefore has particular resonance for him.
“I played 160-odd games for Bedford and their head coach Mike Rayer has always been a bit of a mentor for me,” he said. “It’s a fixture I always look out for and in recent times we’ve had plenty of success against them.
“Someone told me we’ve won our last six league games against them and they haven’t won at the Butts in 15 years but you don’t really take any notice of those things other than knowing they’ll be using that as a bit of a motivator and they’ll give us a really tough game.”
Match tickets for Cov’s home game against Bedford Blues on Saturday September 28th can be purchased at https://www.coventryrugby.co.uk/tickets/matchday-tickets/
