Coventry Rugby’s preparations to face London Scottish on Saturday obtained a lift via a coaching ‘away day’ to the hallowed turf of Rugby Faculty.
In keeping with head coach Alex Rae, the blue-and-whites marked their return from the ten-day break that adopted their festive-season double over Nottingham and Bedford with a session on the Shut – the placement the place some consider pupil William Webb Ellis originated rugby union within the 1820’s.
“We educated at Rugby Faculty on Saturday as a result of we thought having a change of surroundings would assist get any rust out of the system,” he mentioned.
“However in actual fact everybody turned up stuffed with enthusiasm and we’ve since had a extremely good week forward of dealing with Scottish on Saturday.
“It’s good typically to go to totally different locations and going to the Shut was actually particular for us.
“We spent a little bit of time educating Billy Nairau (Cov’s recently-arrived Fijian) about it being the spot the place all of it started.
“The amenities there are sensible and credit score to everybody on the faculty as they’ve a beautiful set-up.”
Rae mentioned the break helped to clear a backlog of accidents constructed up throughout the autumn forward of their assembly with opponents in whom he detects greater than a touch of Harlequins affect.
“Bodily and mentally it’s been good for us to have a break and are available again match and refreshed for the subsequent huge interval,” he mentioned.
“Trying on the fixtures this subsequent three-week block is more likely to be a defining a part of the season for lots of groups and on the finish of it I feel we’ll be capable to see who’s preventing for what.
“Scottish have some good gamers and likewise a robust relationship with Harlequins which you’ll be able to see in a number of the shapes they run.
“Having some younger Quins gamers there on mortgage has clearly rubbed off – as an example they’ve among the best stats within the league for retaining possession.
“They clearly wish to maintain the ball and play with it which ought to be an excellent check for us.”
Regardless of the Exiles presently being on the foot of the desk with just one success in seven begins, few would dispute that their house win over Ealing is the stand-out results of the Championship season up to now.
And whereas Rae’s crew accomplished a double over Saturday’s hosts final season, 5 of the present squad had been a part of the blue-and-whites’ 36-23 defeat on the Richmond Athletic Floor in November 2021 on a day when Cov lock James Tyas starred for Scottish.
Cov’s boss is subsequently cautious of the hazards posed by Bryan Redpath’s Exiles, who throughout December added shedding bonus factors towards Cambridge, Hartpury and Doncaster to the league leaders’ scalp.
“We’ve already slipped up a few instances this season and we all know on this league in case you’re not the place you’ll want to be in efficiency phrases you get bitten on the bottom,” he mentioned.
“Scottish have already turned Ealing over at house and could possibly be a lot greater within the desk if a few tight video games had gone their approach lately.
“However we’ve actually discovered our ‘mojo’ in current weeks and with a number of our bodies again from damage we go into the sport on the again of some wins with loads of confidence and in an excellent place.”
Purchase tickets to Coventry Rugby’s subsequent house recreation towards Cornish Pirates on Saturday January 27th right here: https://www.coventryrugby.co.uk/tickets/matchday-tickets/