National League One: Richmond 34 Coventry 33.
By John Wilkinson, Coventry Telegraph.
February 19 2013
COVENTRY were beaten in the cruelest of fashions, but they will surely look back on the opening 35 minutes for the reason why they left the Athletic Ground with no more than a losing bonus point.
All the talk after the game – a great one for the neutrals in the crowd, but one of frustration and bewilderment for Cov’s supporters – centred on the final moments when, with Cov defending for all their worth, referee Tom Davis appeared to signal a wheeled scrum only to give the put-in back to Richmond and then award the home side a penalty try.
The rights and wrongs of either decision depended on which camp you were in, but they certainly seemed harsh on the visitors who had themselves benefited from a penalty try awarded in much clearer circumstances.
Disappointing as it was, however, Cov will have to concede that the damage had been done much earlier when they allowed Richmond to dictate the pace of the game and compounded it by missing first-up tackles and, when they had the ball, kicking it straight back to the opposition.
It left them facing a 20-6 deficit, and although the second half was almost a complete opposite to the fiurst, that was to prove just too much.
Dominating the third quarter, Cov for once took full advantage of the extra man by scoring 14 points, from scrums, when home No.8 JP Attlee was in the sin bin to lead 23-20, and after going behind again to a well-taken try, they responded with ten unanswered points of their own.
But Cov couldn’t close out the game as Richmond produced the expected reply, and after losing Heath Stevens who capped an unhappy afternoon by collecting a yellow card, they were finally undone deep into stoppage time.
Richmond took a 6-0 lead in eight minutes through two Tom Platt penalties before Cov settled and Cliffie Hodgson replied on 10 and 13 minutes to level the score at 6-6.
But Cov were struggling to find any real rhythm or pattern to their game, and the home side moved in front again after 31 minutes when a series of missed tackles allowed winger James Greenwood to weave his way through to the posts for a try which Platt converted.
And a second try followed five minutes later when Cov lost possession in a promising position 30 metres out from the home line and were sliced apart with Will Browne unchallenged as he chased down a kick ahead by Louis Grimoldby, Platt again converting.