By Paul Smith 
Coventry head coach Alex Rae says starting shirts are up for grabs when his squad host Chinnor in their final pre-season friendly on Friday evening (Butts Park Arena, 7.30pm kick off).
And as a result, three weeks on from their comfortable win over National One Moseley Cov approach their first-ever meeting with the Oxfordshire outfit in a totally different frame of mind.
The blue-and-whites’ tough league opener at a resurgent London Scottish comes just seven days after this final warm-up outing.
And according to Rae Friday night’s clash represents an opportunity for many of his squad to put down a selection marker ahead of the upcoming league encounter with one of Cov’s oldest rivals.
“Now the league season is so close there’s definitely been a switch flicked for the players and coaches as everything goes up a gear when you start to get close to that first game,” he says.
“There’s plenty of tight calls about who starts at London Scottish. Every training session is going to count and this game against Chinnor will be really important as we want to find some rhythm now and build towards the league season.”
After visiting the Richmond Athletic Ground, the Blue-and-Whites then face four consecutive Saturdays of league action.
Cov’s head coach believes the fixture planners have handed his club a testing opening month – but at the moment he is looking only at their immediate challenge.
“Looking at the first block of league games we face a tricky start having to go to places like Caldy and London Scottish where we’ve come unstuck before,” he says.
“Bedford is our first home game and that is always a tough fixture, but that’s for the future as at the moment it’s all eyes on the first game a week on Friday.”
Coventry’s players have experienced a change of scenery and approach over the last fortnight before returning to the Butts Park Arena and their more usual training format this week.
This involved a three-day trip to Lincolnshire where the squad trained on the beach at Skegness and at Spalding RFC where they also camped.
Rae says the trip was enjoyed by everyone involved and he believes a squad containing 13 new recruits will gel more quickly as a result.
“We got exactly what we wanted out of the trip to Lincolnshire,” he says. “We spent lots of good time together during which we got some training done but more importantly did some enjoyable activities and spent time together building bonds away from the club.
“It turned out that the thought of camping was a lot worse than actually doing it! Sleaford Rugby Club were brilliant in accommodating us and our main sponsor Food Heroes laid on some brilliant stuff for which we are extremely grateful.”
“The players then didn’t come to the BPA last week, but they still had plenty of work to do. They took their GPS units so Chris Hart (head of strength and conditioning) could monitor running loads. The week was more about having a chance to mentally recharge ahead of six consecutive weeks of rugby than a physical break.”
The Chinnor pre-season game is included in season membership packages which are available via this link: https://www.coventryrugby.co.uk/membership/
Alternatively tickets are available via this link: https://www.coventryrugby.co.uk/tickets/
