By Paul Smith 
Jake Henry makes his long-awaited Coventry Rugby debut when Cambridge visit the Butts Park Arena for a round 13 Championship clash tomorrow (3pm kick off).
The pacy 24-year-old who is on a season-long loan at the BPA from Edinburgh is named on the left wing as Cov seek to complete a seasonal double over the ‘Blood-and-Sand’ in their first outing since mid-February.
Henry joins David Opoku and Ryan Hutler in a back three bursting with attacking intent – and with Charlie Robson, who scored a 65-metre wonder-try at Cambridge in October, named on the bench Cov will not lack pace in the wider channels.
Oli Morris who marked his return from a long-term hand injury with a try in the Blue-and-Whites’ most recent outing against Leicester partners the reliable Daf-Rhys Tiueti in midfield while Josh Barton gets the nod alongside Tommy Mathews at half-back.
Coventry head coach Alex Rae names the same front row that began Cov’s cup defeat against the Tigers – and they are again supported by an identical trio of replacements.
Fit-again James Tyas links up with Tiki Nayalo in the second row and as a result exciting prospect Chester Owen gets his third start of the season at no.8.
The five-week mid-season gap since Cov completed their Premiership Rugby Cup campaign has also allowed forwards Suva Ma’asi and Dan Green to recover from injuries and both are named on the bench.
The visit of Cambridge marks the beginning of a five-week block of action for Coventry during which they play clubs who currently occupy the lower reaches of the table.
And according to their head coach Cov have spent the last few weeks fine-tuning systems ahead of their Spring campaign.
“Cambridge changed coaches midway through the season, I think Anthony Allen is looking after then now until Craig Newby comes in,” he said.
“They try to play a fair amount of attacking rugby and seem to be involved in some high scoring games. Playing them is never easy, but with no disrespect to Cambridge we are very much concentrating on what we want to do.
“We’ve proved in the past that if we get our game right we are a match for anybody in this league, so we are very much focussed on how we want to play the game and on giving the fans something to smile about.”
Coventry: Ryan Hutler; David Opoku, Oli Morris, Daf-Rhys Tiueti, Jake Henry; Tommy Mathews, Josh Barton; Toby Trinder, Jordon Poole, Vilikesa Nairau; James Tyas, Senitiki Nayalo; Tom Ball, Aaron Hinkley, Chester Owen.
Replacements: Will Biggs, Jevaughn Warren, Eliot Salt, Dan Green, Rhys Anstey, Will Lane, Charlie Robson, Suva Ma’asi
Tickets for Cov’s home game against Cambridge on Saturday are available via this link: https://www.coventryrugby.co.uk/tickets/
