In the days and in the immediate hours leading up to kick-off, the coaches were faced with a number of concerns and challenges over selection and had to make a couple of late changes to the final starting 15. The final 17 players to play stood and played together- despite injury- to earn a brilliant victory against a big, aggressive and hard running ‘bogey’ side on a late September afternoon in brilliant sunshine and temperatures not seen for most of this Summer!

Redditch kicked-off to their left, Richard Bent fielded the kick and ran forward, was tackled and a ruck formed- resulting in a penalty against Covents for being Offside At The Ruck- Redditch- kicked out for a line-out. Covents got up well and stole the ball- which was kicked deep into Redditch territory and out for the second line out of the game.
From that lineout Covents pressed again and continued to pressurise Redditch, keeping them in their half- resulting eventually in them being penalised for being Off Side at the Ruck- Penalty Kick DJ- 0-3 (12 minutes).
Two minutes later the referee blew for a Covents Offside at the Ruck on 40m and to the surprise of many, the Redditch 10 elected to kick for goal- both being woefully short and wide with his attempt.

Covents pressed on and eventually caused a Redditch knock-on on their ‘22’. The expected dominance of the Redditch pack at scrum-time didn’t materialise and Covents were able to make a fine back row move with Carl Thornton making good ground ‘blind’, passing to Tom Carter, who passed to DJ who in turn passed to Roh Aitkin making a fine run from his Left wing- breaking through 2 tackles to score to the right of the posts. A fine try- but DJ missed the conversion 0-8 (16 minutes).

Tom Carter ensured quick ball and an abrasive dominance around the fringes- dominating his opposite number and causing mistakes by the Redditch 10- meaning that Redditch were always under pressure. However, frustratingly, Covents didn’t manage themselves to structure more than a couple of phases together and certainly didn’t put into practice all that had been done in training.

Covents continued to now exert pressure and dominance in both scrum and line-out with Callum Craig, Jack Morris, Carl Thornton and Connor Macintosh making some valuable turnovers in important areas- preventing Redditch from any kind of continuity. With little possession now Covents continued flowing attacks with Lawrence Goddard taking fast ball forward in a simple move, breaking through 3 defenders to off-load to an impressive Richard Bent in support 30m out who was able to reach the line and dot down for a fine score, converted by DJ 0-15 (34 minutes).

Half-time saw the change of Jan Nyvlt coming on for Rhys Evan-Johns which increased the dominance of the scrum now, with then the disappointment of Karl Cook being penalised for the loss of binding in a scrum on 41 minutes. Redditch had little quality possession due to the defensive pattern working well and the sheer brutal reluctance to allow Redditch any time on the ball- now forcing them into mistakes and loss of territory.

Quick ball from the injured Tom Carter- who continued to play on despite a pulled hamstring after only 25 minutes, meant now that the backs could run at will and from a fine move involving DJ looping around Cameron Wallace to feed Lawrence Goddard who broke again through the Redditch defence to score a fine try, converted by DJ 0-22 (58 minutes).

Almost immediately from the restart Jack Morris caught and drove forward, evading several attempted tacklers tight to the touchline- off-loading to Warwick Whitewood on his shoulder- who simply refused to be tackled and managed to run in from half way- despite being chased down by 2 Redditch defenders. As a portal to good luck and fortune this season (we hope), the resulting conversion hit the crossbar and went over 0-29 (59 minutes).

Rhys Johns returned to action in the second row to replace the injured Karl Cook with Jan now moving to Loose-head where he promptly drove up and through the struggling Redditch tighthead and hooker. Nicky Curran replaced Roh Aitkin who had earlier dislocated a finger and pulled a hamstring- Nicky looked sharp and abrasive with good pace- almost certain for a try- only to lose the ball in contact- he will rue the missed opportunity to score.

The next 10 or so minutes saw a drop in concentration and a bizarre penalty conceded for kicking the ball away (despite the whistle for the penalty not having been blown!) resulting in a fine Redditch kick to the Right hand Coventrians corner. The line out was gathered by their increasingly confident and well-functioning line-out and was driven by the entire Redditch pack towards the Covents goal line. As Covents players also joined the maul to prevent it being driven over, the Redditch 9 spotted the blind-side as being un-guarded and sniped for a well taken try in the corner- conversion missed 5-29 (70 minutes).
This spurred Covents back into action and the rapidly tiring Redditch pack seemed to have almost given-up- a fine break once again from Jack Morris after constant pressure on the Redditch 22 now resulting in missed tackles and a great score and conversion to seal the game 5-36 (79 minutes). Man of the match was Callum Craig for his turn over work, decision making and work rate getting around the field. Well done Callum.

Redditch were something of a bogey team for Covents and this performance and the result are a continuation and testament to the hard work and numbers training on Tuesday and Thursday nights. There is an increase in competition across several positions with more players joining and pushing for 1st team shirts.

Stoke Old Boys will be the biggest test this season and will be a clear indication of the character of the team in what will be a hugely physical battle.

Big thanks to John Albright for the match report very impressive. Also thanks again to the sponsors for this game and for their continued support
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