COVENTRY head coach Alex Rae said last weekend’s 45-7 demolition of old rivals Bedford Blues came as no shock to him.
The Blue-and-Whites extended their winning run over one of their oldest opponents to eight games with a seven-try display that was built around a fine forward effort.
And having heard his former club Bedford Blues given a big build-up by a number of Championship pundits during pre-season, Rae was pleased with Cov’s display.
“That scoreline and the way we played honestly doesn’t come as a surprise to me,” he said.
“Our game plan was to squeeze them and the way the lads executed it and put them under pressure was brilliant. We have a simple approach, we’re direct and it’s hard to stop us.
“Our line speed in defence was magnificent as you saw from the amount of times they were caught with the ball out the back.”
Rae’s selection choices raised a few eyebrows with long-standing No.8 Tiki Nayalo named in the second row. However, it proved a master stroke as
Aaron Hinkley put in a starring performance after being handed a starting jersey through this positional switch.
“I’ve read a few grumblings and there’s obviously a few better coaches than me around who are questioning the team selection,” Rae joked.
“You’d hope over these last few years that people have built enough trust to realise I might know what I’m doing.
“Tiki in the second row created a chance to get a back five containing Obi Nkwocha, Tiki and then Tom Ball, Hinkley and Matt Kvesic which is a really powerful line-up.
“You might not do that every game, lineout dependent, but it worked well. I was really pleased for Aaron – he worked incredibly hard and was desperate to do well.”
With only fly-half Tommy Mathews and winger
Jake Henry currently recuperating from injuries Rae says arriving at a match-day 23 is proving a tough challenge.
“That’s one of the hardest things to manage at the moment,” he said. “There’s so many good players and we’re bringing people off the bench who have been regular starters for a long time in some cases. It means no-one’s going to get comfortable.”
