Spy in the Cov camp and other matches

Albion travel to Coventry this weekend needing a good result whilst Warriors and Ladies are both at home this weekend. There are unconfirmed reports that Coventry coach Bret Davey has resigned! It came to ahead over selection for the match against Plymouth Albion!!

This Weekend

v
Cov v Albion
Saturday 16 February
K.O. 3 pm
@ Butts Park Arena

With both teams not in the best of form this will be a tough match for both sides.

The company behind the club has gone into administration and although the official website has said that this does not effect the club or players it is still yet to be seen what sort of side and commitment they will put out onto the pitch on Saturday.

Albion's squad will also be difficult to call. 

Will Jannie or Nigel be fit enough to play? Yes 

Will Tommy retain the captaincy? Yes

Will James re take the starting slot at 2? No

Has Brad done enough in the first 40 mins last week to claim his place at 10, and has recovered from illness? Yes

Has Chris Lowrie recovered from last weeks match enough to take up his place in the starting lineup. No

Tim

Richard

Scott

Adam

Colin

Tom

Mike

Jannie

Nigel

Brad

Nic

Keni

Arran

Ed

Nat

Bench

Emyr

Ross

Darren

James

Gareth

Brett

Chris

Albion last week went down to the side one above them in the table now they take on the team one below them in the table. They showed in the first half of the match against Bedford that they could have won, but failed to carry it through into the second allowed Bedford to score the only try of the match.

This weekend they must show that they can win away from home in the league having lost on their last 4 trips away from Brickfields.

There is a 100 point gap between the points difference in the league. Coventry have scored 18 more tries than Albion but have let in 70! Albion have the better discipline record with 9 - 13 yellow cards, conceded  0 - 2 penalty tries and Cov have have had 46 penalty kicks (3 points) against compared with Albion's 27.

National League One Data

This table shows the for and against for each team. eg Tries 74/17 is 74 tries scored and 17 conceded. Con Rate is the percentage tries converted.

Recent meetings

20 October 07
Plymouth Albion 19
Coventry 28

Attendance: = 2943

This is ... Report

Team: Emyr Lewis, Liam Gibson, Arran Cruickshanks, Brad Davies, Nic Sestaret, Ross Laidlaw, Ed Lewsey, Tim Mathias, James Owen, Martin Rice, Colin Stewart, Tom Hayes, Brett Stroud, Jannie Bornman, Adam Kettle Replacements: Nigel Cane, Wihan Neethling(used), Richard Oxley(used), George Davis(used), Mike Lewis(used), Ben Gulliver(used), Chris Lowrie(used)

Scorers :- Tries Adam Kettle James Owen Liam Gibson Conversions 2x Ross Laidlaw

03 March 07
Plymouth Albion 17
Coventry 6

Attendance: = 1482

On a pleasant afternoon Albion make their way through to the semi finals of the EDF Trophy. With Coventry taking the first 3 minutes and 15 minutes in the second half Albion dominated the match with both possession and territory.

With both Nigel Cane and Richard Oxley declared unfit the chance was given for Tom Arscott to start on the wing. Wihan Neethling had to wait late into the second half before he was given the chance to play on the wing as he came on for Tom Arscott.

Albion went into the change around just 8 – 0 up but it could have been a lot more with the chances they had. Tom was playing well on the wing and could have had a hat trick if the luck had gone the other way.

With no bonus points being played for the second half saw several kicks at goal by Regardt that may have in a league match been kicked for the corner. But all that is needed in a cup match is a win.

As one Coventry supporter said to me after the match the best team won, we never got into the match.

More ...

Team: Nat Saumi, Tom Arscott, Regardt van Eyk, Keni Fisilau, Nic Sestaret, Ed Barnes, Ed Lewsey, Tim Mathias, James Owen, Scott Zimmerman, Mike Lewis, Tom Hayes, Federico Genoud, Danny Thomas, Chris Lowrie Replacements: Matt Newman(used), Wihan Neethling(used), Arran Cruickshanks(used), Gareth Evans, Graham Dawe, Ed King, Brett Stroud(used)

Scorers :- Tries Nic Sestaret Penalties 4x Regardt van Eyk

13 January 07
Coventry 16
Plymouth Albion 11

Attendance: = 1377

A game of two halves that did not go Albion's way.

Albion won the first half 0-11 although the score could have been even better as after Tom Arscott went over in the right hand corner play was called back for a forward pass.

In the second half Coventry raised to the game and were running wide but were not getting the ball over the line and their first 6 points came from penalties from in front of the posts.
With Coventry still playing catch up rugby they finally scored a try that was converted. With Albion now behind for the first time in the match they played hard and it still looked as though the try was going to come.

Albion kept possession deep into injury time and were awarded penalty after penalty and moving closer and closer to the line but when Cov finally got the ball they kicked the ball backwards but safely into touch and the final whistle was blown.

The match also saw 5 yellow cards, three for Cov and two for Albion.

More ...       Opponents Report

Team: Nat Saumi, Tom Arscott, Regardt van Eyk, Arran Cruickshanks, 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, David Delaney, Sila Va'Enuku, Tim Mathias, James Owen, Brett Stroud, Bryn Jenkins

Scorers :- Tries Ed Lewsey Penalties 2x Regardt van Eyk Sin Bin Chris Lowrie Danny Thomas

30 September 06
Plymouth Albion 27
Coventry 19

Attendance: = 2906

Very much a game of two halves with Albion running away with the first half 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.

Albion stay top now just one point ahead of Doncaster and Coventry stay in 8th place.

More ...  Opponents Report

Team: Wihan Neethling, Ed Lewsey, Regardt van Eyk, Keni Fisilau, Nic Sestaret, Ed Barnes, Nigel Cane, Martin Rice, Richard Oxley, Scott Zimmerman, Colin Stewart, Ben Gulliver, Brett Stroud, Danny Thomas, Tom Hayes Replacements: David Delaney(used), Nat Saumi, Arran Cruickshanks, Tim Mathias, James Owen, Federico Genoud, Chris Lowrie

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

25 February 06
Plymouth Albion 34
Coventry 27

Attendance: = 2170

More ...

Team: Luke Arscott, Jon Fabian, Regardt van Eyk, Keni Fisilau, Nic Sestaret, Nick Defty, Nigel Cane, Martin Rice, Stewart Pearl, Ryan Hopkins, Brett Luxton, Tom Hayes, Martin Schusterman, Danny Thomas, Alfie Tooala Replacements: Matias Albina, Ed Barnes(used), Altan Ozdimer, Stuart Friswell(used), Nic Rouse, Chris Lowrie(used), Nat Saumi

Scorers :- Tries Alfie Tooala Jon Fabian Martin Rice Nick Defty Regardt van Eyk Penalties Nick Defty Conversions 3x Nick Defty

22 October 05
Coventry 7
Plymouth Albion 13

Attendance: = 1742

Team: Luke Arscott, Jon Fabian, Nat Saumi, Keni Fisilau, Nic Sestaret, Ed Barnes, Matias Albina, Martin Rice, Stewart Pearl, Scott Zimmerman, Nic Rouse, Tom Hayes, Martin Schusterman, Danny Thomas, Alfie Tooala Replacements: Regardt van Eyk(used), Graham Dawe(used), Ryan Hopkins(used), John Henry Brown(used), Sam Leung Wai, Nigel Cane, Chris Lowrie

Scorers :- Tries Danny Thomas Martin Schusterman Penalties Nat Saumi

Match Day Tickets etc.

Match day tickets for National Division One matches are:
Adult match day ticket £15
OAPs / Student match day ticket £10
Under 16s £5
Under 4s Free entry

They can be purchased from the hut at the Butts Road entrance to the ground, close to the main turnstiles.

With the company behind the club in administration the new catering staff have defined that food sales are not viable.

Chips, Burgers and batches (rolls) are available just outside in the ground. There is a very good fish and chip shop well patronised by the home support within a short walk. Kebabs and sandwich bars are also available in close positions to the ground. But many of these outlets close around 2.00pm to 2.30pm.  There are many restaurants with in walking distance of the ground. Chinese, Italian, Turkish plus an old fashioned cafe serving English food.

Predictions

RugbyRoundup

NYA

Rugby Times

Cov by 4

Franks Prediction

Difficult one to call and does my heart or head win? With Brad at 10 and a light wind predicted by BBC weather I think he will be a key player. I put my heart on the line and go for a win by the visitors by more than 7 points.

-

 Don't forget to put your own predictions into the calculator LINK

Weather forecast

Current forecast is for sunshine max temp 6^oC with  light easterly winds

Officials for the day

Referee: Tba
Touch judges: Richard Draper, Peter Facey
Assessor: Ken Bracewell, Paul Emberson

Albion Matters

Warriors

The Warriors sit on top of the Canterbury Shield league table (Division One)

With only one match played in the Canterbury Shield last weekend the fact that Warriors were forced to pull out of their match against London Scottish did not effect their position in the league.

With the injury list growing at Plymouth the Warriors suffer more than most although they have been drawing on the local talent to make up the numbers.

This Saturday they take on bottom of the table Glamorgan Wanderers so I would expect a good win.

If Ross Allen is not called up to travel to Coventry he will lead the team out onto the pitch at Brickfields looking for the full commitment of his team. In my view he has risen to the challenge and is a good captain that leads by example.  

Ladies

The ladies last week had arranged a friendly against Paignton but after going into the turn around 36 - 0 up the match was abandoned 2 minutes into the 2nd half after a bad leg injury to one of the visitors.

Georgina Rozario has been on England A duty and whilst she picked up a shoulder injury early in the 1st half against Spain the hopes that she will be fit enough to start for Albion against Bath on Sunday, KO 2:30.

The ladies were unable to trouble the scorers last time the teams met with Bath winning in November 12 - 0. Albion had the best of the first half  against Bath turning over at least 8 of their balls, but a blind side move from the back of the scrum allowed them in to score a try. After Albion missed penalty opportunity on 34 minutes the side went into the turn around with the hosts 5 - 0 up. Albion held their own while down to 14 players with Claire Steer being shown a yellow card but an overlap try on the wing gave Bath the points they needed to confirm the result.

Spy in the Cov camp and other matches

Posted by: Unofficial Plymouth Albion (IP Logged)

Date: 14/02/2008 15:10

Spy in the Cov camp and other matches

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Re: Spy in the Cov camp and other matches

Posted by: noibla (IP Logged)

Date: 14/02/2008 16:26

Good report again Frank, regarding your questions for the line up I don't know how the illnesses are going but Dawsey has to keep Tom as the skipper after everything that has gone before.

Semper Sersum.

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Re: Spy in the Cov camp and other matches

Posted by: Cider Drinker (IP Logged)

Date: 15/02/2008 01:05

Think Tom will stay as skipper,
hope Chris is Ok to play as well as he did well last week



Don't let anything get in the way of a good game of Rugby

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Re: Spy in the Cov camp and other matches

Posted by: ianbol (IP Logged)

Date: 15/02/2008 23:07

Great preview, Frank.

Isn't noibla a show off ??

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