Esher 27 Coventry 18. – Terrace verdict

The form team meeting the out of form team would seem to suggest an Esher win. Yet despite a poor start Coventry were able to deny Esher much possession, and using their forwards as a battering ram started to make inroads into a previously dominant home defence. A halftime score of 13-12 to Esher appeared to give Coventry hope of a crucial victory. A poor first 11 minutes in the 2nd half

put the game beyond Coventry as Esher scored 2 tries, either orchestrated or finished off by their always impressive Quins dual registered player Charlie Amesbury. Despite clawing their way back with 2 penalties Coventry were unable to get even a losing bonus point. Even more pressure is now on the team for the concluding 5 games of the season.

At a bright sunny Pillar Data Arena, before a sparse crowd, Coventry made the worst possibly start. Despite early possession a penalty gave the home side an early attacking lineout. With Amesbury always a threat he was able to switch direction to allow Sam Stitcher over for a try in the corner. An excellent touchline conversion by Neil Hallett made the score Esher 7 Coventry 0 after just 2 minutes.

Coventry came straight back but Tommy Hayes missed a straight 27 m penalty. Matters got worse for Coventry as in the 13 and 17 min Hallett kicked 2 more penalties to make score Esher 13 Coventry 0.

At last Coventry stirred themselves, they denied Esher any meaningful possession and used their bigger forwards as a battering ram, with especially the 2nd rows impressive. It was no surprise that on 25 mins following a series of pick up and drives that Kurt Johnson, in from his wing, picked up the ball and was driven over for a try. Hayes converted to make score Esher 13  Coventry 7.

Coventry continued to press and on 31 min following another series of forward drives, the ball was whipped out by Mike Walls for Hayes to score in the corner. Hayes missed the difficult conversion, making the halftime score Esher 13 Coventry 12.

With everything still to play for Coventry made the worst possible start to the 2nd half. Despite plenty of possession in the Esher half, too many penalties were given away allowing the home side to move upfield.

On 6mins again Amesbury orchestrated a move from the halfway line fed Blakeburn on the wing, whose 40m dash allowed Amesbury to score near the posts. Hallett converted to make score Esher 20 Coventry 12.

Five minutes later matters became worse as another Amesbury break allowed winger Tom Lozides in for a try, which Hallett duly converted. Score now Esher 27 Coventry 12.

A lifeline was given to Coventry as on 16 min Hayes kicked a penalty to make score Esher 27 Coventry 15.

The game now became more and more scrappy, with Coventry unable to make much headway against a resolute defence, and any promising attacking positions were negated by giving away too many penalties. Yet with 8 mins to go another Hayes penalty got Coventry to within one score of a bonus point . Esher 27 Coventry 18.

Breaks by Dixon, McGlone and Parry came to nothing as Coventry looked for one more score. Coventry had one last chance approaching injury time as McLean missed a touchline 40 m penalty.

In the end a disappointing result with not even a losing bonus point. Coventry had no-one able to match or cope with the speed and thought of Charlie Amesbury. And as Coventry allowed the game to become looser at the start of the 2nd half this played into Esher's hands.

A fraught end to the season is on the cards as Coventry urgently need some more wins.

Scorers  Coventry          Tries  Kurt Johnson

                                                Tommy Hayes

                                      Conv  Tommy Hayes

                                      Pen    Tommy Hayes (2)

              Esher              Tries    Sam Stitcher

                                                Charlie Amesbury

                                                Tom Lozides

                                     Conv   Neil Hallett (3)

                                     Pen     Neil Hallett (2)

Teams

Coventry:   15 Ben Russell, 14 Kurt Johnson, 13 George Dixon, 12

Donovan Sanders, 11 Lee Parry, 10 Tommy Hayes,

9 Mike Walls,  1 Ricky Whitehall, 2  Chris Whitehead, 3 Rob Dugard, 4

Sam Herrington, 5 Olly Atkinson, 6  Henno Venter, 7 Darren Clayton, 8

Laurie McGlone.

replacements  Rudi Brits for Dugard, David Lyons for Herrington, Ben

Pons for Venter, Tom Slater for Walls, Olly Winter for Hayes, Ronnie

Mclean for Dixon. Dugard for Whitehall. Stewart Pearl not used.

Esher:  Neil Hallett, Douglas Flockhart, Charlie Amesbury, Seb Jewell,

Tom Lozides, David Slemen, Robert Shaw, Alex Rogers, Kevin Corrigan,

Ignazio Elosu, Paul Barker, James Inglis, James Waterhouse, Sam

Stitcher, Shawn Renwick.

replacements  Colm Hannon, Michael Blakeburn, Lee Starling, Alex