Match Report: London Scottish 19-45 Coventry Rugby

Obi Nkwocha crossed twice while Australian fly half Liam Richman kicked 15 points in a pitch-perfect debut which set Coventry on their way to a convincing 19-45 opening night Championship win at London Scottish.

The visitors’ dominant forward display won a steady string of penalties from which Richman’s accuracy created numerous opportunities for his pack to launch their driving maul inside the home 22.

With Matt Kvesic dominating the breakdown plus Tiki Nayalo and Suva Ma’asi carrying strongly Cov had the match won by the hour mark and although Scottish claimed three fourth-quarter scores they finished well beaten.

Jimmy Martin twice threatened down the left wing in the early stages and on both occasions was thwarted by the home side’s cover defence.

But a first Coventry score did soon arrive after a scrum penalty was sent to the corner and a set move from the resulting lineout allowed Tiki Nayalo to power over for a try which Richman converted.

Cov were playing with plenty of power and putting the Exiles under pressure at the setpiece. When Scottish turned possession over at a lineout inside the visitors’ 22 Alex Rae’s team also showed some ambition by moving the ball wide to full back Steff Davies whose raking kick made fully 50 metres.

The Blue-and-Whites continued to pose plenty of lineout problems for Scottish with Matt Kvesic making useful ground from the scrum-half position on several occasions and a number of home throws being turned over.

Cov’s second try, scored by Suva Ma’asi and again upgraded by Richman, followed another scrum penalty won by Billy Nairau and a powerful lineout drive.

Scottish’s best attack of the first half ended with Kvesic winning a penalty on the ground a few metres from his own line and Cov then underlined their opening-period superiority by kicking an easy penalty goal three minutes before the break.

This gave the visitors a 17-point interval advantage which they soon extended to 24 when Obi Nkwocha plunged over close to the posts for a score which Richman improved after another powerful lineout drive.

Cov’s powerhouse second row went immediately from hero to bench warmer as he was shown a yellow card by referee Hamish Grant for a deliberate knock-down inside the Cov 22.

And the Exiles quickly took advantage of their temporary numerical superiority to shunt prop Ntinga Mpiko over for a try which fly half Harry Sheppard converted.

A long spell of Coventry continuity ended with Matt Johnson’s strong carry winning another penalty and the visitors promptly put the try bonus point on the board when Will Lane picked out Martin lurking unmarked in the corner with an excellent pass.

Better followed from  Cov’s replacement no.9 who claimed the try-of-the-night when he pinned his ears back and scorched away from the cover from fully 60 metres.

Nkwocha was by now back from the sin bin to register his second and Cov’s sixth touchdown of the night in support of another neat break from Lane who was having a highly-influential 30 minutes.

Cov’s debutant fly-half maintained his 100 per cent record from the tee by converting all four of their second-half tries before Scottish had the last word by sending dangerous left wing Noah Ferdinand over for two late scores, one of which was converted by Alec Lloyd-Seed.

Line-Ups:

London Scottish: Holmes; Hyde, Talbot-Davies, Simmonds (McCallum 70), Ferdinand; Sheppard (Lloyd-Seed 69), Nutton (Law 65); Osborne (Cave 50), Scott (Musk 24), Mpiko (Ashworth 65); Wardell, Browne (Spurway 64); Ransom, Ingall, White (Marshall 65)

Coventry: Davies; Hutler (Opoku 68), Morris, Tiueti, Martin; Richman, Barton (Lane 55 ); Trinder (Warren 60), Ma’asi (Spandler 55), Nairau (Johnson 40); Nkwocha, Anstey (Tyas 55); Ball, Kvesic (Okeke 65), Nayalo (Hinckley 55)

Referee: Hamish Grant

Half-Time: London Scottish 0-17 Coventry Rugby

Scorers:

London Scottish:

Tries: Mpiko (60), Ferdinand (78) (80)

Conversions: Sheppard (60) Lloyd-Seed (78)

Coventry:

Tries: Nayalo (8), Ma’asi (28), Nkwocha (49) (76), Martin (65), Lane (68)

Conversions: Richman (8) (28) (49) (65) (68) (76)

Penalties: Richman (36)