By John Wilkinson COVENTRY Development went down to a narrow 33-29 defeat against Jersey Athletic in their opening Zoo Sports Shield fixture at Broadstreet.
Both sides scored five tries with Cov recovering from a shaky first half to get within range, only for the final whistle to sound with them pressing hard on the Jersey line.
“After a poor first half we kicked into gear and played some nice patterns of rugby,” said head of development Matt Price.
“The aim was to stretch them and play with tempo, however we struggled to stick to any patterns of play in the first half. The second half was much better and we went through the phases and scored some nice tries.
“A couple of sin bins to Harry Morley and Tom Price upset the progress and, unfortunately, after battering away at their line for numerous phases, the final play of the game saw a step into touch and signalled the end to a frustrating day.”
