SUNDAY games don't seem to appeal to the Tigers as for the first quarter at Coventry they appeared all at sea, going behind 19-3.

However, they then rallied and showed true grit and determination to foce their way back into the game and twice draw level before eventually having to make do with a losing bonus point when more were there for the taking.

COVENTRY              32

SEDGLEY PARK    25 

National League Division One 

AFTER a torrid first quarter during which they conceded three tries and found themselves 19-3 down after just 17 minutes, the Tigers rallied and left the Butts Park Arena with a deserved losing bonus point.

The fact they were fast asleep for the opening 15 minutes or so and offered powder-puff tackling in the face of determined, well orchestrated offensive probings will be of concern for Director-of Rugby Tim Fourie.

For this game was winnable and a one point return instead of a possible four or five may well have an effect on where the Tigers finish come the end of April, although the one point they did emerge with could equally prove as important.

The home side was fast and furious out of the starting blocks and after snatching possession at a Sedgley lineout five metres inside the visitors’ half made it count.After switching play twice centre Donovan Sanders burst through ineffectual tackling to offload in the tackle to supporting flanker John O’Connor and his burst of speed left the Tigers’ cover in disarray, touching down close to the posts to make Ben Russell’s conversion attempt that much easier; 7-0.

That should have been a wake-up call, but it wasn’t. From the restart Coventry ran possession straight back at the Tigers with Tom and Kurt Johnson making the hard yards before offloading to O’Connor who was again on hand to touch down to the left of the Sedgley posts to make it 12-0.

Sedgley looked to have rallied and strong running from Jon Skurr, Chris Hall, Chris Briers and Ed Norris was rewarded with a penalty 10 metres to the right of the Coventry posts and Phil Jones stroked it over to make it 12-3, having missed with a 42-metre attempt two minutes earlier.

But it looked all over on 17 minutes when, having forced play into the Coventry half for a number of phases, a superb touch-finding kick from Russell resulted in a lineout to the Tigers five metres from their own line.Jimmy Ponton won it but Jones’ relieving kick gave the home side the throw-in at a lineout on the Tigers’ 22-metre line.

With possession assured centre George Dixon popped up to drive the ball into the Sedgley defence where he offloaded to that man O’Connor again and his run was rewarded with a hat-trick try which Russell goaled to put Coventry into a 19-3 lead.

Having looked like they had committed rugby suicide, the Tigers finally pulled themselves together and set about reducing the arrears. A scrum-penalty-scrum sequence saw the Tigers drive deep into Coventry territory and force the ball wide to the left, where Chris Hall kicked over the top of his marker and won the race to the Coventry line, benefiting from a kind bounce to scoop the ball up and cross for a try to make it 19-10 with 21 minutes gone.

Jones’ boot allied to strong running from Fourie and Ponton saw the home side infringe at the ruck, with Jones punishing them with a successful 18-metre penalty to make it 19-13.

For all their confidence in attack Coventry at times panicked in defence, resorting to killing the ball illegally at the ruck as the Tigers’ well drilled, tight forward play began to take its toll and grind out the metres. In one such instance Cov Number 8 Will Johnson, the former Leicester Tiger and brother of England World Cup winning skipper Martin, was yellow carded on 29 minutes as referee Mr. Richards finally lost patience with their cynical practices. Jones stepped up and kicked his third penalty on the half-hour to put the Tigers within three points of Coventry.

Try as they might Sedgley could not make any more of the man advantage and the two sides were back to full strength for the start of the second half. Ten minutes after the restart persistent phase play involving most of the Tigers’ team was rewarded with another penalty and Jones made it all square at 19-19 with his fourth successful three-pointer and all of a sudden the Tigers were right back in it and Cov were concerned.

On 52 minutes it was Coventry’s turn for a kick at goal and Russell restored the home side’s lead. But five minutes later Jones replied for Sedgley and it was 22-22 as the Tigers began to prove dogged opponents.

As play swung first one way then the other, Cov then kicked a penalty for touch and from the resulting lineout five metres from the Sedgley line caught and drove over, with prop Niall Treston getting the downward pressure and Russell supplying the extras to put Cov in the lead once more at 29-22.

A sixth successful penalty from Jones closed the gap once more to four points before Russell’s boot pushed it back out to seven with 10 minutes to go. Sedgley dominated the closing 10 minutes but try as they might they could not force a way through the Coventry cover and in the end had to make do with the bonus point 

COVENTRY: Russell, Johnson, Dixon, Sanders (Binham 76), Takarangi, Dorrian, Walls (James 62), Treston, Friswell (Protherough 50), Brits, Tonkin, Nimmo (Rheeders 58), T. Johnson, O’Connor, W. Johnson. Replacements not used: Rimmer, Montague, Toft. Tries: O’Connor 2, 4, 16; Treston 63. Conversions: Russell 3. Penalties: Russell 2.Yellow cards: W. Johnson, 29. 

SEDGLEY PARK: De Jager, Hall, Briers, Craig, Voortman, Jones, J. Albinson (Wilkinson 70), Evans, Roddam (Keys 70), Du Plessis, Fourie, Norton, Newton (Jope 56), Ponton (Livesey 38 – Blood), Skurr. Replacements not used: Roberts, Gazzola, Largan. Tries: Hall 21. Conversions: Jones 1. Penalties: Jones 6.