MISTAKES COST COV THE WIN

Sep 11 2006

By John Wilkinson

A REALITY check for Coventry as their first week win at Sedgley Park was put into clearer context by a no nonsense Rotherham side with designs on a National Division One title run.

But while obviously a setback, it was nowhere near as uncomfortable for the home fans as last seasons defeat by Titans on exactly the same weekend.

Playing in ideal conditions which produced a cracking game of rugby, there was enough about Cov's performance to retain optimism on a weekend when other results underlined how competitive the division will be.

Apart from the opening four minutes, which ended in a yellow card for Niall Treston and a penalty try, Cov's line-out functioned well - as did the scrum, despite the disruption of losing the luckless Treston to injury midway through the second quarter - and their defence of the driving maul was generally good.

Where Cov did lose out was in the ruck area as they were bullied off the ball too often by a Titans pack given generous licence by referee Nick Williams, and in their attacking through the midfield.

Guilty of too many turnovers, Cov found it difficult to penetrate a solid defence while the visitors were a persistent threat through powerful centres Brian Tuohy and Brendan Hennessey.

And if in the end it came down to taking chances, Ben Russells failures with the boot may not have been deicisve but left Cov chasing the game from too far a distance for too long.

Cov's response to the converted penalty try, awarded after two collapsed line-out mauls, and Trestons card was to score within two minutes through Hendry Rheeders, crashing over after a quickly-taken penalty by Mike Walls, and they pressed hard until back to numerical strength.

The final metre proved one too far, however, with Tom Johnson and then George Dixon both going close, and when possession was lost Joe Bedford raced 50 metres upfield before the covering Russell hauled him down.

Titans added their second try on 19 minutes through replacement back row Michael McComish when Cov were exposed down the narrow side, and the half continued in end-to-end fashion with Kurt Johnson putting Tuohy into touch in the left corner after another long breakaway by Bedford and then chasing back to deny Hennessey after Cov, continuing to probe without success, again turned the ball over.

The decisive score came six minutes into the second half when No.8 Barry Jacobsz started and finished an excellent move from a line-out with Whiteheads conversion giving Titans a 19-5 lead.

Cov were second best in the third quarter, but ironically when skipper Will Johnson was sin binned on 64 minutes for his over-vigorous attempt to free the ball on the floor, the 14 men again went at the opposition with renewed drive and John O'Connor was close to a score in the right corner before a Whitehead kick was charged down in goal and Walls snapped up an opportunist try.

Will Johnson had been back on the pitch for five minutes when he took a free-kick and forced his way over from five metres for Cov's third try, but with the game in added time - six minutes, to go with the nine Mr Williams found in the first half - two more turnovers gave the momentum back to the visitors before Gareth Steenson sealed the result with a penalty.

"Rotherham played it very simple and did it better than us with a bit more guile and nouse on the ball," conceded Will Johnson.

"Its a steep learning curve and we have got a very young team. It was a lesson today and well learn from it.

"Hopefully its a stepping stone and we wont make the same mistakes again."