By Tom Little
January 27 2015

...2015 including Richmond v Coventry Rugby.  

Fixtures Saturday 31^st January 2015.

Blaydon                          v       Loughborough Students

Cinderford                     v        Blackheath

Esher                              v        Tynedale

Hartpury College          v        Darlington Mowden Park

Macclesfield                  v        Ealing Trailfinders

Old Albanian                 v        Fylde

Richmond                      v        Coventry Rugby

Wharfedale                   v        Rosslyn Park     

Ten games to go as the final third of the season commences with nothing sorted yet at both ends of the table. This final period will no doubt contain scares, alarums, disappointments and surprises in equal measures down to the wire. This week sees all top 3 sides travel away with arguably leaders Ealing Trailfinders facing the easier fixture, whilst the 4 teams in the nether regions all face potentially difficult ties.

Top against bottom as Ealing Trailfinders travel to Macclesfield- a forgone conclusion you may surmise. Yet we all marvelled at how Cinderford beat the leaders on a real pitch. The home side will be buoyant after gaining only their second victory on Saturday this time away at Tynedale, but the leaders are expected to get their away form back on track with a comprehensive victory.

A rather more difficult prospect is the issue as Coventry Rugby travel to the Athletic Ground to face one of their traditional rivals Richmond. Games between these two old rivals are usually close at the RAG, but Coventry Rugby now looking for their 17th consecutive victory will be focused enough to keep pressure on Ealing. A full match preview of this game will follow.

Keeping the pressure on those two teams above them Rosslyn Park also have a difficult away fixture at Wharfedale. Although having recently lost to Coventry and Blackheath, Wharfedale have performed better than these results suggest, and back on home soil they should provide a firm test for Park. Could be a very close game as Dale need the win to virtually make them safe from relegation.

Fylde somewhat surprisingly lost at home last week but will be more confident about travelling to Old Albanian, who are languishing in the final relegation spot. The St Albans side is another that performed nobly in defeat but it is a win they need urgently. Fylde are being pressurised over 4^th place by an inform Blackheath so a very nervous game from both sides is expected.

Another side in trouble Tynedale in 15^th place have to travel to Esher, who themselves are misfiring and are down to 9^th place. At home Esher should just have the edge which will leave their visitors surely too much to do to avoid the drop.

Cinderford although performing heroically in defeating Ealing, and then bravely keeping out Coventry for large portions of the game on Saturday have another difficult task as Blackheath are their visitors. Blackheath now only 4 points behind Fylde in 4^th place, will be looking to overtake them, whilst this is another must win game for Cinderford  as they struggle to put clear space between them and the relegation zone. A game that could go either way but home advantage might just be enough.

Two sides finding their form Hartpury College and Darlington Mowden Park meet, both must be very satisfied in their first season in this league with both of them in the top half of the table. A game that could go either way but home advantage and after a confidence building winning run of seven from the College should just give them the edge.

The final game sees a battle over 11^thplace between the incumbent Blaydon and the pretenders Loughborough Students. The Students eased their relegation worries with a win over Old Albanian, whilst Blaydon earned a justified losing BP away at high flyers Rosslyn Park. Both sides are still not safe from relegation but Blaydon should have enough power at home to win this one.

Match preview Richmond v Coventry Rugby Saturday 31^st January 2015.

Coventry Rugby travel to the Richmond Athletic Ground this coming Saturday 31^st January, to meet one of their traditional rivals in Richmond, with the kick off at 3 pm. Founded in 1861 Richmond became one of the founder members of the RFU in 1871.Under Director of Rugby Steve Hill and assisted by 1^st XV coach Mark Matzopoulus, Richmond finished last season in 7^th place the position they are currently in with a 50% record of 10 wins and 10 losses. It is fair to say that their current position is lower than what they were expecting at the start of the season. Indeed they started off with 5 straight wins, but since then have struggled to find the necessary consistency. Three of their last four games have seen heavy away defeats at Darlington MP and Ealing, as well as a home one to Hartpury College. Overall their home record shows 6 wins and 3 losses.

Matches between Coventry Rugby and Richmond are usually close affairs although in this season’s match at the BPA Coventry raced into a large first half lead before being pinned back in the second half with Coventry Rugby finally winning 48-27.

A large number of last season’s squad remain augmented with some important new recruits including a handful of Harlequins DR players. Quins players include prop Seb Adeniran-Olule, flanker Henry Cheeseman and impressive scrum-half Jordan Burns. At fly-half or fullback Andy Hall comes in from Loughborough St/Ealing, as well as Chris Surman also from the East Midlands. At No 8 Joe Burton has come in from the Students/Nottingham with Matt Chambers recruited from Old Albanian. Recent debutants for the side include flanker Tom Shaw; centre Jamie Falconer with hooker Simon Edwards from Esher becoming an ever-present.

A large number of experienced players remain from last season, led by leading points scorer Rob Kirby, now only 1 point behind Cliffie Hodgson. The Richmond backs have plenty of pace especially on the wing with Will Browne, Adam Gadsby, Rob Alexander and Rory Damant. Tom Platt at full-back with centres Martin Freeman and Matt Keville have the speed to take advantage of any counter-attacking possibilities with scrum-half James Gibbs providing the experience.

A very effective pack includes props Tim Walford, Dan Parkinson, Jeremy Cunnow and Afi Okeshola with hooker Jason Phipps. In the second row C J Osazuwa continues to impress with the experience of Will Warden and Chris Davies still leading by example.

A fast moving and effective back row has Simon Ackroyd, Tom Sargeant and Jamie Thompson.

Richmond certainly have the squad to trouble Coventry Rugby as they have the ability to match most sides up front and have the counter-attacking ability to play a non-stop all action fast off-loading game, although at times their mid-field defence leaves something to be desired .

Coventry Rugby continue on with their need ,not just to maintain their winning run together ,but to win to keep  their pressure on Ealing at the top of the league. An intriguing match is in prospect which certainly will not be taken too lightly by either side.

Tom Little

Coventry Rugby press office

27^th January 2015.

Week 21 national league 1 previews Saturday 31st January...

Discussion started by Unofficial Coventry Rugby (IP Logged), 27/01/2015 21:00

Unofficial Coventry Rugby
27/01/2015 21:00

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