By John Wilkinson A PERFORMANCE which epitomised Coventry’s season was director of rugby, Rowland Winter’s verdict after the 27-22 win at Loughborough Students which clinched a fourth-place finish in National League One.
Cov trailed three times in a hard-fought game, but again showed their resilience to come through at the end and claim an eighth successive victory.
“We knew it was going to be tough – Loughborough may have lost a few games recently, but their results had been close and we were under no illusions,” said Winter.
“A couple of changes to the side and a couple of different options meant we were probably a bit disjointed, and we weren’t clinical enough. We made a couple of mistakes in the first half hour, we lost the ball in contact a few times, and it gave them the opportunity to run at us and the early try gave them hope.
“But we began to get some set piece domination, we regrouped and kicked on, and that’s probably the key thing with this group.
“Today’s performance nicely epitomises our season – a slow start, but we’ve gathered control and then we’ve kicked on and got a bonus point win away from home.
“We’ve won eight on the bounce, and to finish fourth in the table we’re over the moon really for a warm-up season.”
Added Winter: “There’s things to look at, but we’re going to enjoy the next five or six weeks, enjoy the rest, and then we’re back on the 10th of June to kick start a new season and step up.
“The boys have earned a good night now. They’re a committed group that has done really well, they’ve bought into playing for Coventry Rugby and they’re proud to represent the club, and that showed today in the resilience to pull together and step up.”
