By Toby Costar 
Coventry Rugby’s Forwards Coach Louis Deacon sends warning to squad ahead of highly anticipated Harry Walker Memorial game against rivals Birmingham Moseley on Saturday.
He said: “Hopefully very well, we aim to win every game. We hope to be competitive and I think we will be competitive.
“We are not here to make up the numbers, so it is going to be challenging, it’s going to be tough at times but that is part of the club growing and I think the club is ready to rise to that challenge.”
The 37-year-old former Leicester Tigers and England lock admits that he is “hugely looking forward” to the Blue and White’s local derby at Butts Park Arena.
He said: “I am hugely looking forward to it, we have targeted playing Moseley because they have a big physical team.
“We were in the same league as them last year and it will be a good test for us to see how much we have progressed in the off season.”
With the match being marked as a special occasion as the Blue and Whites pay their respects to the late, great Harry Walker, Deacon believes that there will be an extra zest of passion from the players.
“I hope so, I think that it will be nice to give Harry the send-off that he deserves, obviously he was a massive legend of the club and very highly thought of by everybody within the club and the fans, so hopefully we can make it a special day.”
Deacon has experienced playing in ample of Leicester Tigers’ derby matches against Northampton Saints and believes that any match against a local rival is monumental.
The towering coach also believes that the players preparations and build up are crucial in helping the side earn the result that they are hoping for.
He said: “They are huge. I think it’s like any derby really, I suppose you don’t want to your closest rivals.
“All the build-up to those games during the week is massive and you don’t want the opposition to get an upper hand on you at all, so you do everything in your power to not lose those one on one battles which ultimately in the end will have an effect on the result.
“You don’t want to let your team down, you don’t want to let your teammates down. There is a lot of pressure, it’s not just the team, it’s the fans as well.
“They have that big rivalry and they don’t want to lose to their local rivals, so it always makes it a huge occasion, that little bit of added pressure for both teams.”
After a short-intense pre-season, the scheduled matches are on Coventry’s doorstep and Deacon admits the squad are progressing well in preparation for their return to playing games.
He added: “We are progressing really well, we have only had a five-week pre-season before we have gone into any fixtures.
“We have deliberately done that, so we don’t overload the lads through a long pre-season. Pre-seasons are hard enough as it is, but I think we have got a lot of detail into the lads.
“We have taken things right back to basics and rebuilt them back up again because in the league that we are in this year it does ultimately come down to doing everything that little bit better so that is what we are focussed on and I would like to see how we have progressed in those areas.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_J_8H5poMI
