Coventry 46 - 12 Waterloo + Adoption League

By John Wilkinson - Telegraph
November 14 2006

Coventry produced a seven try Sunday afternoon demolition which delighted the Butts Park Arena faithful and lifted them to eighth spot in the Division One table. Head coach Mike Umaga, however, insisted on keeping feet firmly on the ground post-match however, knowing that Waterloo will be fortunate to avoid the relegation spots.

 

 

Head coach Mike Umaga, however, insisted on keeping feet firmly on the ground post-match however, knowing that come the end of the season, the Liverpool outfit on results to date will be fortunate to avoid the relegation spots. There were clearly a lot of plusses to take from the Blue & Whites performance, but Umaga refused to get too carried away.

 

"A good win yes," he commented, "but certainly not our best performance of the season despite the score line. There were still too many unforced errors and we did help gift them too rather soft tries. It is coming together better and team selection with all these guys returning from injury will be more difficult for next week, which is good."

 

Once they have had time to reflect on the performance, there certainly should be plenty to feel positive about.

 

Waterloo - hammered at home by Leeds a week earlier, but nevertheless with victories against both Exeter and Cornish Pirates under their belt - were never seriously in this contest from a point of view of winning, with Cov in command from the outset.

 

Only some indifferent goal kicking stopped the home side from passing the half century mark, although a first half penalty attempt from Ben Russell early on seemed to satisfy everyone it had passed through the uprights, save for the match officials.

 

The Coventry domination though was pretty complete in all departments. From the outset the forwards held the whip hand, stealing several line-outs from opposition throw-ins and constantly pushing them back in the rucks and mauls.

 

Once again the marauding back row of Tom Johnson, John O'Connor, who had another very positive match and skipper Will Johnson held too many aces for their visitors. Dave Campton and Ian Nimmo were again very effective in the engine room, while the front row unit constantly pressurised their opponents.

 

Not surprisingly, the backs revelled in their increased opportunities, with this time Myles Dorrian and Ben Russell officially switching roles before kick-off. True, as the coach pointed out post match, the error count was too high, but at least attacking opportunities were created, exciting running delighting the patient home crowd who had waited most of the season for such a result.

 

After an earlier miss, Ben Russell kicked Coventry in front on 15 minutes with a 30 metre penalty, before four minutes later the points tally became eight.

 

From halfway, Cov produced an effective handling move down the left, ending with lock Dave Campton storming in for his first try of the season, Russell missing the kick as he did eight minutes later from a penalty attempt.

 

Then between the 32rd and 33rd minutes however, Coventry opened up a 20-0 lead which effectively sealed the match for them.

 

First Aaron Takarangi crossed on the left, again good handling in the buildup and then straight from the kick off, the Butts Park men stole possession, with Mike Walls setting Kurt Johnson free inside the visiting half, the wing man crossing wide out this time on the right despite a despairing last-ditch tackle attempt. Myles Dorrian landed an excellent wide angled conversion of the second try.

 

Centre Brady slipped over for a Waterloo try just before the break, their first real entry into Cov's 22, but at 20-5 at the break, things looked good for the home side.

 

On 46 minutes, Coventry sealed a bonus point for the second match running, Takarangi claiming his second and his side's fourth try of the match after an effective Darren Clayton burst, Waterloo full-back Dan Loader scoring and converting his sides second try from wide out five minutes later.

 

From 25-12 however, it was then to be all Cov.

 

Prop Alun Wyn-Davies drove over for his maiden club try, Russell this time adding the extras, before Tom Johnson and then replacement lock Louis Tonkin put the seal on an emphatic home win to storm in for Coventry's sixth and seventh tries, the last four minutes from time, Russell converting both.

 

Not quite enough time for a half century of points to be achieved, but there did not appear to be too many complaining home supporters at the final whistle.

 

Position	Poster's name	Player's name	Total
1	Laugh Out Loud	Tom Johnson	36
2	simplyfred	Aaron Takarangi	32
3	Bambi C	Mike Walls	29
4	covmick/Michael Carter	Ben Russell	28
5	fatprop	Kurt Johnson	27
6	Rob_Drawn_and_Quartered	Alun Wyn Davies	26
7	cov pete	Louie Tonkin	25
8	No 1 Son	George Dixon	24
9	marbles	John O'Connor	23
-	CeeBee	Rudi Brits	23
10	johnr	Myles Dorrian	21
11	tom snr	Will Johnson	20
12	Ice Queen	Stuart Friswell	19
13	justwatching!	Sam Montague	16
-	rock salt	Dave Campton	16
-	roachVII	Darren Clayton	16
-		Ian Nimmo	16
14	Kimbo	Carl Rimmer	15
15	ChrisW	Hendry Rheeders	14
-	Steve H (Peggy)	Kieran Geraghty	14
-	Big_Bad_Kiwi	Duncan James	14
16	propupthebar	Donovan Sanders	12
17	can i really be bothered	Apoua Stewart	11
18	No 2 Son	Ben Toft	10
-		Ed Binham	10
19	Gimlet	Rich Protherough	8
20	Inside	Rich Siveter	7
-	jman	Henno Venter	7
21	Cov Girl 1	Niall Treston	-2