By Frank Stormont
October 1 2006

Albion win the first half with three tries in the first 20 minutes. Coventry come back in second half but fail to win the bonus point.

Albion 27 Coventry 19

Martin Rice

Richard Oxley

Scott Zimmerman

Colin Stewart

Ben Gulliver

Brett Stroud

Danny Thomas

Tom Hayes

Nigel Cane

Ed Barnes

Nic Sestaret

Keni Fisilau

Regardt Van Eyk

Ed Lewsey

Wihan Neethling

David Delaney

Nat Saumi

Arran Cruickshanks

Tim Mathias

James Owen

Federico Genoud

Chris Lowrie

Bench

For the fifth week running Graham Dawe sends out the same squad that has taken Plymouth Albion to the top of the National League One table to the biggest gate of the season and to loud applause.

A match of two halves with Albion dominating the first half only allowing Coventry to score two penalties and keeping their try line intacted  they ran in 3 tries in the first 30 minutes and it looked as though the bonus point was certain. On returning from the changing room the match was more even but Albion were leaking penalties and allowed Coventry to score a break away try to narrow the gap.  The result was never in any real doubt but it would have been nice to have collected the bonus point and maintain the 2 point lead in the league.

With just a minute on the clock a kick from Ed Barnes in the centre of the pitch into the right hand corner went longer than intended and bounced into touch in goal for a scrum back on the centre spot. With a penalty awarded against Keni Fisilau Coventry went ahead with a high kick that went between the posts.

Before the first ten minutes were up Albion were in the lead after  Ed Barnes broke through in the centre from 30 metres out. Keni Fisilau was on the end of the play touching down under the posts for an easy conversion for Wihan Neethling. After a penalty for going in from the side Wihan slotted a penalty 40 plus metres out in the centre.

With a forward move Brett Stroud was stopped inches from the line but in the next phase Martin Rice was at the bottom as Albion peeled over close to the posts. With a second high tackle penalty awarded against Keni the visitors took the opportunity to pick up another 3 points.  Keni was from then on holding his shoulder and was in fact substituted at half time.

Nic Sestaret made good use of the overlap on the left hand side running in third try of the match and his fourth of the season. With a successful conversion and only 20 minutes on the clock it looked as though big scores could be on the cards and a bonus point was in the bank.  Before the half hour was up Nic had two more opportunities to get his second but was tackled short of the line and bundled into touch on the first and taken to ground on the second.

One more penalty kick was converted in the half by Wihan before Coventry camped on the Albion 5 metre line for the last few minutes of the half.  Despite the fact that the Coventry trainers were on the pitch more than they were off only 5 minutes were added on.

The only replacement of the match for Albion was made at half time with David Delaney coming on for injured Keni with Ed Barnes moving out to inside centre and David taking up the fly half position.  Just 8 minutes into the half Albion concede their first running try of the season when Kieran Geraghty broke through deep in his own half to score on the left wing.  

A long penalty from just inside the Albion half and only 10 metres from the right hand touch line was impressively kicked and then when Ed Lewsey was harshly penalised for not rolling away at a tackle in front of the posts 30 metres out Coventry came to only 8 points behind.  All was now to play for with Albion needing another try for a bonus point and Coventry needing a single score to get their bonus point or two scores to win.

The last 20 minutes of the match saw no additions to the score, although a penalty opportunity to Coventry was missed which could have secured them the bonus point.

Chairman of Rugby, Graham Dawe, said after the match "It was a very hard game at a fast pace. Nothing more than Albion had expected and we are delighted to come away with a win.  The conditions were tough with a strong wind blowing down the pitch making it hard to find the corners.  The referee was very hard on the tackle area and the players were finding it difficult to understand what he was going to say."

When asked if he was disappointed with not getting a bonus point he replied "We are never disappointed with a win, no absolutely delighted with the win.  Monday we turn our attentions to Exeter  and staying at the top of the table."

With Doncaster picking up the full 5 points available to them when they visited London Welsh they move to within one point of Albion in the table. Rotherham putting 66 points on Waterloo mean that they sit just 2 points off the lead.

Next Saturday sees the short trip to Exeter who sit in 9th place after their loss at Bedford yesterday with a return visit of the second teams at Brickfields on Sunday.

 

Photos should be up in the next day.