Coventry 3 Rosslyn Park 16.

COVENTRY could have few complaints as their winning run came to a grinding halt in the clinging Butts Park Arena mud.

A well-organised Rosslyn Park side bossed the scrums from the opening whistle and made better use of their possession to fully deserve their victory in the most difficult of conditions which must have contributed to an extraordinary penalty count of 30.

There was never much between the two teams on a day when ball retention was at a premium and running rugby out of the question.

But there was generally more direction to Park’s kicking game, Cov consistently putting the ball too deep, and with Cov struggling for any platform from the scrum, they just made too many handling errors as they tried to force the issue.

What really hurt Cov, however, was their inability to take advantage of two yellow cards handed out in quick succession to Park’s front row after a Sam Katz penalty had opened the scoring.

Laurence Ovens was first to go to the sin bin after 12 minutes for an apparent stamp on Tom Poole which, in truth, might have merited red, and he was still there when joined by his replacement, Lorne Ward on 22 minutes.

But as much as Cov ramped up the pressure, they couldn’t find a way through a stubborn Park defence and, held up repeatedly with the line beckoning, came closest when a 30-metre Cliffie Hodgson penalty hit the crossbar, his standing foot slipping as made contact.

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