By Coventry Rugby Coventry Rugby 26
Leicester 68
HT: 7-28
Coventry’s hopes of booking a place in the knockout stages of the Premiership Rugby Cup ended with defeat at the Butts Park Arena in front of a record 5,250 supporters.
Tigers made the perfect start, bagging their opening try inside just two minutes when hooker Finn Theobold-Thomas dotted down from the back of a driving maul, Ben Volavola with the extras.
The Blue-and-Whites rallied and almost opened their tally on nine minutes when a great run from David Opoku took him to within ten metres of the line before the ball was worked to the left where Tommy Mathews chipped ahead only to lose the chase to the covering defender.
The visitors doubled their tally on 11 minutes when the ball was worked to the right wing for former Cov favourite Will Wand to score in the corner, Jamie Shillcock slotting over the first of his seven conversions for a 14-0 advantage.
Again the home side rallied and chalked up their first try on 16 minutes when Tom Ball stole the ball from a Leicester line-out, fed scrum-half Sam Maunder who cut inside and stabbed the ball through for Aaron Hinkley who gathered to score beneath the posts allowing Mathews a simple kick.
The Premiership side added two more tries before the break though to go into the interval with a 28-7 lead. Former Wasps winger Josh Bassett claimed both, firstly powering over following good work from centre Solomone Kata and then finishing off a breakaway score after Tom Hitchcock had been stopped just short of the try-line for Cov.
Bassett was outstanding throughout and was involved in his side’s first try of the second half just three minutes after the restart, feeding back row Emeke Ilione to score.
The Cov fans were given something to cheer two minutes later when the returning Oli Morris, playing his first game since October, intercepted a pass to score under the posts, fellow replacement Theo Mannion with the extras, but the second half largely belonged to the visitors as they ran in another five tries.
Full-back Shillcock finished off the sixth after taking the pass from Wand before scrum-half Tom Whiteley gathered a Bassett grubber kick for the next, the scores coming in quick succession to take the wind out of the home side’s sails.
Replacement prop Jevaughan Warren dived over for a third Coventry try before visiting skipper Finn Carnduff barged his way over at the other end.
The Blue-and-Whites did claim a fourth bonus point try courtesy of quick-thinking scrum-half Josh Barton who weaved his way to the line from a scrum only for Tigers to take their tally into double figures with two more tries late in the game.
Old boy Wand ran in his second of the game before no8 Kyle Hatherell dived in following a period of pressure of the Coventry line with the clock in the red. Volavola slotted over the final conversion.
