Sat 21 Oct 2023
OC’s headed in to this fixture with their first League win of the season under their belt in last week’s impressive victory over bottom-placed Earlsdon. Leamington offered a must stiffer test – having won 5 of their first 6 League games. Old Coventrians had Shaun Allsopp returning to the Club after a brief stint with Kenilworth and, after a late injury, was asked to play out of position at flyhalf. You would have thought that he was a seasoned No. 10 putting in a very Farrellesque performance with some accurate kicking, slick passing and some uncompromising tackling.
The home side actually started better and Old Coventrians were down 7-0 after just 7 minutes, when their fly-half cut through a rare gap left by the Old Coventrians defence to score a converted try under the posts.
Not to be disheartened, Old Coventrians struck back quickly, when a strong scrum helped open up Leamington’s defence, with winger Ayuk Takang finishing things off in fine style. Elliot Sheepy comfortably converted the try to draw the Teams level. If the first 10 minutes were anything to go by this was going to be a really entertaining game for the crowd.
Leamington were very quick to put pressure on the Old Coventrians defence and came very close to scoring on a number of occasions – only to be thwarted by some sterling defence and some unforced errors from the home side. The Old Coventrians made the opposition pay for those missed chances by moving the ball down towards the Leamington line, where an excellent move in the backs produced a well worked second try for Ayuk Takang , which was slotted over by Elliot Sheepy.
As was the pattern of the game in that first half, Leamington struck back quickly and touched down for another converted try after some nice interplay – which was duly converted by the Leamington full back.
Leamington’s third try of the afternoon came not long after when the home side increased their lead following a lineout inside the Old Coventrians 22m area with their forwards crashing over from short range.
Old Coventrians had worked hard throughout the half to get themselves into good field positions, and their good tactical play was rewarded just before the half-time whistle, when another fine backs move was finished off in the corner by Ollie Hurst. The difficult conversion attempt was narrowly missed and both sides went into the break on equal terms.
Half Time score: 19 v 19
The second half lacked a little bit of the pace and zest of the first half and developed into a very tight affair with the Old Coventrians defence once again standing firm in the face of some probing attacks from the home side. The Old Coventrians did manage to work their way in to the Leamington half and the pressure told as they were awarded two penalties which Elliot Sheepy’s trusty right boot converted to give Old Coventrians a well-earned six point lead with only 10 minutes to go.
The final minutes of the game produced some real drama! With Leamington chasing the game for that elusive converted score, they threw the kitchen sink at the Old Coventrians defence which eventually buckled under the pressure to concede a try to the Leamington winger. Fortunately for the Old Coventrians, the conversion from the far touchline was missed and hopes of back-to-back wins was still on the cards.
The pressure was immediately put back on the Old Coventrians line with Leamington coming close to stealing the victory in the final seconds of the game. It looked as if a long, looping pass from the Leamington centre would reach their winger but the Old Coventrians winger, Josh James (JJ), just got his fingertips to the ball, nudging it into touch. The match official decided that this was a deliberate act on JJ’s part and awarded him a yellow card and gave a penalty to Leamington five metres out. Once again though, Old Coventrians defence held firm and earned the Club an excellent albeit narrow victory.
It was a cracking game of rugby from two sides keen to play open rugby. For the Old Coventrians, could it give the players the confidence to push onwards and upwards. A tough visit to Manor Park in two weeks’ time awaits next…..!
Full Time score: 24 v 25
