Coventry Rugby Nighthawks 17 The Army 21 - match report.
By Tom Little.
February 22 2012
In a hard fought match the Nighthawks lost narrowly to a strong Army XV containing 10 capped players and 7 current inter-services players. Coventry Nighthawks team manager Rich Blundell was pleased with the overall Nighthawks performance, especially the new half back pairing of Lewis Barker and No 10 Khrist Kopetzky, whose gallic skills brought a new dimension to Coventry’s back play.
He also praised the work of the tight five with debutants hooker Will Hafu and prop Chris Beer prominent. Jamie Harrop was also impressive in the back row.
A slow Coventry Nighthawks start saw The Army run in 2 tries in the first 16mins through Bakosa and Matt Bowman. However the Nighthawks scrum pressure started to tell and Will Hafu was rewarded with a try after good work by Khrist Kopetzky and Chris Beer.
The 2nd half with Coventry having the advantage of the wind saw them start to dominate possession, but after 46mins a loose pass by Brett Daynes 5 m from the Army line was intercepted for Ben Suro to run 70m for a try, giving the Army a lead by 21-5.
However the Nighthawks refused to buckle and started to exert more pressure especially in the scrums. On 70mins a backwards going Army scrum allowed replacement No 10 Will Maisey to go over for a try. With replacement centre James Otutaha prominent with breaks, it was left for Will Maisey to make the break on 72mins for James Otutaha to score with Maisey converting bringing Coventry back to one score behind.
Despite a concerted final Nighthawks effort the Army held out for a narrow victory. Certainly a second half performance that has given the selectors plenty to think about for Saturday’s team selection against Blaydon.
Coventry team –Gillick, Stevens, Whybrow, MacBurnie, Gregson, Kopetzky, Barker, Beer, Hafu, Weller, Weaver, Dechartres, Gair, Harrop, Whittle, Graur, Bender, Cowell, Hall, Daynes, Brotherton, Murray, Otutaha, Maisey.
Tom Little
Coventry Rugby press office
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I went to the game last night and the army looked like a strong side, i think with the changes we made in the fowrads were an equal match, but our backs looked a bit disjointed, which to be fair, as they havent really played together much before, i guess they are.
It would be interesting to see the new french guy play in the first 15, but i suspect he could one moment be the genius and the next the villan, but maybe thats what he need a genius villan!! :-) Also the new centre, with the big hair (sory not sure of his name) also looked like he had potential.
Shame we lost, but i think it was possibly a fair result in the end.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:02:24:09:06:44 by tom snr.
heath stevens sowed up well, normally beating the first man but gregson didnt se alot of the ball.
tom little