Coventry 26 Doncaster 20 - Terrace verdict

By Tom Little
February 1 2009

After last weeks disappointment at Bedford, Coventry bounced back with an excellent, hard fought battle against another top 4 side. In a gritty determined performance against a Doncaster side, whose use of strong arm tactics were a feature, Coventry refused to be intimidated. Before an enthusiastic crowd Cov started brightly, seemingly wanting to keep the ball in hand running at the Doncaster

defence. Ominously Cov lost possession of the ball and had to defend on their own line. On 6 mins the ball came loose with James Miller picking up for a 20m dash before passing to Tom Slater, who still had 60m to the line, through the heavy ground. Sparky just made it for Dorrian to convert making score Coventry 7 Doncaster 0.

Doncaster came straight back with constant pressure, and only a forward pass stopped a try. The pressure was maintained on the Cov line with a succession of 5m scrums. Cov were deemed to wheel the scrum illegally and penalised twice, a third scrum inevitably led to a penalty try for not binding, converted by Lennard, to make score Coventry 7 Doncaster 7.

Cov refused to be intimidated by the Doncaster pack and a quick Nathan Jones penalty led to a Cov scrum. On 23min the ball squirted free, and Jamie Miller picked up and dashed 30m to the line, for an unconverted try. Score Coventry 12 Doncaster 7.

The games continued to ebb and flow, with the Cov lineout working well, and indeed starting to disrupt the Doncaster one. On 38 min Doncaster had a try disallowed after going through 10 pairs of hands. The assistant referee had been flagging for foul play by the Doncaster No 3.

Doncaster now rattled, they were starting to lose their discipline and in injury time following constant Cov pressure on the Doncaster line, a yellow card was produced for their No 6, although a straight arm tackle earlier on Nathan Jones was missed. Cov continued to press but unable to score leaving halftime score Coventry 12 Doncaster 7.

The home side now brimming with confidence started the 2nd half positively, and on 43min Dorrian kicked over the advancing Doncaster defence for Jamie Miller to gleefully pick up and storm 30m to the line, allowing Dorrian to convert again. The score now Coventry 19 Doncaster 7.

Doncaster fought straight back and 2 mins later a Lennard penalty brought Doncaster up to 10 points.

On 47 mins Doncaster scored a controversial try after a Doncaster knock on was ignored. The Cov side stopped playing and Doncaster passed the ball from one end of the field to another for No 14 to score. Lennard kicked another conversion to make score Coventry 19 Doncaster 17.

The game now became looser seemingly benefiting Doncaster and on 55 min Lennard kicked another penalty to give Doncaster the lead for the first time. Yet Cov were not to be denied, they fought for everything. The home side were not to be denied and on 67 mins they got their deserved bonus point score. Jones kicked through for Donovan Sanders to collect and dash over near the posts, which Dorrian duly converted, making the score Coventry 26 Doncaster 20.

With Hayes now on, he used the corners to force Doncaster to play from deep. Approaching injury time Doncaster forced their way up field and now followed 9 mins of tremendous pressure on the Cov line. Yet Cov showed their discipline and held out for a well deserved victory.

A Coventry performance full of spirit and never say die attitude. All 22 players put their bodies on the line. They refused to be intimidated despite provocation and well deserved their bonus point victory.

Nathan Jones had an excellent game especially with his quickly taken penalties, but my MOM was Jamie Miller for his all round performance.