Spy in the Coventry camp

By Frank Stormont
January 12 2007

A look ahead at the busy weekend as Albion, Westcountry Warriors and the Ladies sides are all away. With squad relesaed and predictions updated.

Squad 

Martin Rice

Richard Oxley

Scott Zimmerman

Dan Smith

Tom Hayes

Federico Genoud

Danny Thomas

Chris Lowrie

Ed Lewsey

Ed Barnes

Nic Sestaret

Arran Cruickshanks

Regardt van Eyk

Tom Arscott

Nat Saumi

Nigel Cane

David Delaney

Sila Va'Enuku

Tim Mathias

James Owen

Brett Stroud

Bryn Jenkins

Bench

Camp Coventry

Coventry Rugby Club
Butts Park Arena
The Butts
Coventry, CV1 3GE
 0871 750 9100

Saturday 2:30

Coventry have had a number of problems with their club and coaching staff over the past months and things must be a little uncertain but it has not effect their home performance.  The Team is managed by Tony Gulliver, Bens farther who will defiantly not be playing against his old club this weekend.

Coventry sit at the bottom of the middle pack in the league, safe from relegation but are fighting well having recently beaten Exeter and Nottingham, both placed above them. They have a good home record only loosing two match at the beginning of the season against Rotherham and London Welsh but it is a different story away from home with a win against Sedgley Park and a draw against Exeter.

Coventry's last weeks match against Cornish Pirates looked as though it was going to go Covs way until ex Albion Stuart Friswell was dubiously yellow carded and the Pirates kicked form 40 metres to move one point ahead in the dying minutes.

 

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National League One top points and try scorers

Nic Stays securely in 2nd place even after not scoring at Headingley last Sunday and already the best try scorer for Albion for the last three seasons. He is just 7 tries short of the club all time record of 23 jointly held by Lee Robinson and Dan Ward-Smith.

Wihan is dropping down the points scorer list and could drop out of the top ten on Saturday but should be back on the table soon when he becomes match fit.

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Previous meetings

30th September 06

Albion 27 Coventry 19

This was very much a game of two halves with Albion running away with the first half and running in 3 tries two to the backs and one from the maul. With Coventry kicking two penalties they went into the turn around 21 points behind, 27 - 6.

In the second half Albion were unable to score the forth try that would have secured the bonus point and Coventry put on 13 points with a try and two penalties to finish the match 8 points behind just missing their bonus point.

Albion never really looked like being beaten but it was disappointing not to pick up the bonus point that seemed a certainty half way through the first half.

Scorers :- Tries Keni Fisilau, Martin Rice, Nic Sestaret Penalties 2xWihan Neethling Conversions 3x Wihan Neethling

alllbion report  This is Plymouth report  Coventry report

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22nd October 2005

Coventry 7 Albion 13

A match that saw Albion's fortunes change after they had lost three matches in a row  they managed to come home with 4 points.

Five of the seven points were scored by Ben Gulliver, one of the two tries he scored last season and who will not be on the field on Saturday.

Scorers :- Tries Martin Schusterman, Danny Thomas Penalty: Nat Saumi

This is Plymouth report

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Last three matches

 

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National League One Table

* The Newbury/Pertemps match on 30th Dec was abandoned after 17 minutes and will need to be replayed at a later date

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Predictions

BetFred 

Albion by 16 points

(Worcester are now 12 - 1 on to exchange places with the winner of National League One.)

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Terrace Talk

10th placed Coventry entertain third placed Plymouth Albion with both sides looking to return to winning ways. 

Coventry were narrowly beaten at the Cornish Pirates last Sunday going down by a single point after leading till late in the game. They have won just one of their last four and slipped down the table a little. 

At the Butts Arena they have they have played nine times winning seven times and losing to just London Welsh and Earth Titans. 

Albion were beaten last Sunday by Leeds Tykes who returned to the top of the table after winning 14-8. That ended a three match winning run for Albion and they are three points behind the leaders. 

On the road this season they have played ten times losing four times to Doncaster, Exeter, Leeds Tykes and Nottingham. 

Plymouth Albion were 27-19 winners when the sides met at Brickfields earlier in the season. 

Prediction: Albion to win at Butts Arena by nine points. 

Rest of League TT 

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Rugby Round up

Third placed Albion travel to ninth placed Coventry for a difficult assignment. Although Coventry are only midway up the table their league position has certainly been aided by impressive home form. The Midlands outfit has won their last six at the Butts Park Arena and although none of the top six have been beaten there, they did record an impressive win over the in-form Chiefs in December. Albion are three points off top spot and will be buoyed by the news that their East Stand is to start to be built later this month but I think Coventry may have too much for them at home. Coventry by four.

Rugby Round up should be back online by Sunday

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Rugby Times

Not yet available

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Frank's prediction.

With Francisco added to the injury list and Keni not available for selection this is not an easy one but I still think Albion will come away with a win by 15

Don't forget you can register your own predictions!

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Visiting fans

Tickets available on the gate:

	Ground
Adult	£15
OAP/Student	£10
Under 16	£5
Under 4	Free

 

Ground Information

Car park - ??

Programme £2

Food/beer

There are a number of pubs around the Butts Head Arena and there is even a website. www.pubsaround.co.uk Some of the information is limited but might help in selecting which of the 16 pubs to use.

Their are plenty of food outlets, Normal burgers, chips, Pasties. Inside clubhouse you can get hot food Faggots peas pork batches ( rolls ) etc.

You can book a meal at BPA see official website. But quite costly. Ramada Hotel close by has Italian restaurant. Same street has various restaurants and takeaways. A little closer to city centre two minutes from the ground very good Chinese buffet at Dragon Phoenix. 

How to get there

Check out the travel club there may well still be places

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BBC Weather

Overcast , 13degs, moderate SW winds

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Officials

Coventry  vs Plymouth Albion  
Referee: Rowan Kitt  
Touch judges: Steve Lander, Lloyd Jackson
Assessor: Roger Quittenton

Other Matches

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Other top team matches this weekend

Other top 6 team matches that might effect the league lead

Saturday

Doncaster(2) v London Welsh(13) (Donny "22 *25 ^#18 ⁺10)

Exeter(7) v Bedford(6) (Exeter "10 ^#6 ⁺8 Bedford *2)

Newbury(11) v Cornish Pirates(5) (Pirates "8 *18 ^#3 ⁺7)

Waterloo(16) v Titans(4) (Titans "40 *29 ^#25 ⁺9)

Sunday

Leeds(1) v Nottingham(8) (Leeds "22 *16 ^#7 ⁺12)

*BetFred Handicaps
⁺Terrace Talk
^#Rugby Roundup
"Franks prediction
^£Rugby Times

Exeter may well upset Bedford on Saturday which will put any chance Bedford have of being there in the title race out of the window but it would also boost the Chiefs morale ahead of their visit to Brickfields at the end of the month.

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Albion matters

The injury list seems to just keep growing with a possible broken arm for Francisco Deformes and he had an operation this week and likely to be out for several weeks

 Keni Fisilau and Danny Thomas that were in doubt for last Sundays fixture against Leeds. Danny's late fitness test enabled him to continue his run of consecutive league starts for Albion to 52 and a club record total of 168 all time starts.

Keni has now been handed a two match ban by the RFU disciplinary committee and will miss the Coventry match, he has already severed one week. 

Wihan has his cast off but will have to wait until the pins are taken out and be back to match fitness before he will be available for selection.

 

Frank's Team: Nat Saumi, Tom Arscott, Regardt van Eyk, Sila Va'Enuku, Nic Sestaret, Ed Barnes, Ed Lewsey, Martin Rice, Richard Oxley, Scott Zimmerman, Dan Smith, Tom Hayes, Federico Genoud, Danny Thomas, Chris Lowrie. Replacements:  Nigel Cane, Davis Delaney, Arran Cruickshanks, Tim Mathias, Brett Stroud, James Owen, Bryn Jenkins

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Westcountry Warriors

Westcountry Warriors Travel to Newbury while Albion are at Coventry this weekend. Last time the development sides met was back on 16th September when Newbury came out on top 18 - 24 at the same time as the first team were taking on Doncaster. 

After their win over Blackheath, 13-15, last week Westcountry Warriors move to 3rd  in the Canterbury Shield 1st Division Table

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Ladies

The ladies are now back to playing rugby after the Christmas/New Year break. They will hoping that their run of wins at the end of last year will continue as they travel to top of the table Clifton on Sunday. 

When Clifton came to Brickfields at the beginning of October they took all the points and won the match 0-31. under difficult conditions starting in bright sunshine and finishing with driving rain the ladies were unable to get across the line although they were unlucky not to have been awarded a penalty try after they had their driving maul brought down short of the line on more than one occasion.

Albion will not have fullback Tracy Corby available for selection as she has a one match ban after three yellows this season.  Tristan Forster, head coach, says "this will give opportunities for other players to be given the chance for selection".

The kicking duties will be handed to Nancy Stone seen above at the Leos match where she achieved a full house of try, penalty, conversion and drop goal in the 23-0 win for Albion.