This Weekend

v
Albion v Cov
Saturday 30 August
K.O. 3 pm
Also
Warriors v Brixham
K.O. 12 noon

Coventry have came away with the points twice last season against Albion so this is not going to be An easy start to the season. Albion have not had the warm up matches they had planned and will not be playing the match against Lydney on Sunday. It looks as though Brixham have been invited to a curtain raiser on Saturday with a kick off at 12 noon. This has not been confirmed by the club officially. 

This extra fixture against Brixham may be considered as a complication rather than a benefit since the practice of using players not used much for first team work on a Saturday in the Warriors fixture is  not possible. It is therefore likely to stretch the two teams to their limits on the first weekend of the season.

Attendance is also going to be a potential issue. Last week's match had barely  1000 spectators and this is the last weekend of the school holidays so attendance may be down due to that.

Coventry RFC have had a hard closed season with the grass routes bailing the club out to comply with requirements specified by the RFU. They have lost one ex Albion hooker, Friz who moved on to Northampton, and replaced him with another Stuart Pearl. At one time I thought he was on his way back to Brickfields after he made himself available to Devon in the County Cup.

Last week's match saw Coventry go down to Cardiff 7 - 14 or some similar score. They had a good crowd, but then it was a free game for spectators! 

The RFU are still to rule on the size of the league for next season which may reduce to 12 to come inline with the size of the premiership. This will not reduce the total number of matches in  season as other competitive matches will be added to the program.

  starts with the Coventry match. This is the sites fantersy rugby game that is open to all. For an entry fee of just £5 you can run your own team of 10 players and pick up points for match time and scores. To download further information and an entry form click here >>><<< To look at the current squad check out this seasons player profiles >>><<< Hand your form and money to me before the start of the Coventry match and you will be on your way to winning a signed, by the squad, shirt!

Possible teams for Saturday

Injuries have already start to hit the club with Ross Batten, Jack Childs and Kyle Marriott all picking up injuries in pre season matches.

Against Brixham

Tom

Sam

James

Jack

George

Ed

Joe

Pita

Cory

Kieran

Darren

Ross

Mark

Jamie

Wihan

Bench

Tom

David

Steve

Jack

Jamie

Brian

Fini

Alex

And the main match against Cov.

Martin

James

Ryan

Wayne

Colin

Arthur

Mike

Gareth

Greg

Ross

Liam

Keni

Arran

Justin

Tom

Bench

Nat

Matt

Danny

Jamie

Mike

As you can see I have found it difficult to fill the bench for both games and these are just my own guesses. You make your own minds up and Graham will do the same!

Recent meetings

16 February 08
Coventry 29
Plymouth Albion 10

Attendance: = 1214

Team: Nat Saumi, Ed Lewsey, Arran Cruickshanks, Keni Fisilau, Nic Sestaret, Brad Davies, Nigel Cane, Tim Mathias, Richard Oxley, Scott Zimmerman, Colin Stewart, Tom Hayes, Adam Kettle, Mike Denbee, Jannie Bornman Replacements: Emyr Lewis(used), Ross Laidlaw(used), Darren Ritchie(used), Graham Dawe, Gareth Evans(used), Brett Stroud(used), Chris Lowrie(used)

Scorers :- Tries Ed Lewsey Penalties Brad Davies Conversions Ross Laidlaw

20 October 07
Plymouth Albion 19
Coventry 28

Attendance: = 2943

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 ...

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 ...

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

This is ... Report

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

NL1 weekend Fixtures

Match Officials

Keith ran the line at the Albion v Bay match last Sunday and I think he was the person that disallowed the try for Alex Davies. He was the main man at 4 NL1 matches awarding 10 penalties that were then converted to 3 points and 3 Yellow cards. Both of these figures are around or just below the average for NL1.

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