Championship: Senitiki Nayalo hits heights to give Coventry a timely lift

By Paul Smith

Coventry ……………………… 49pts

Tries: Robson 1, 43; Nayalo 23, 54; Owen 58, Barton 71, Mannion 75 Conversions: Mathews 1, 23, 43, 54, 58; Mannion 71, 75

Caldy …………………………….. 31pts

Tries: Sproston 5, Wynn 25, Robinson 30, Sanders 63 Conversions: Barker 5, 25, 30, 63

Penalty: Barker 48

Inspired by an outstanding contribution from Senitiki Nayalo, Coventry battled their way past gritty Caldy in a point-per-minute contest played in perfect conditions.

The Fijian-born British Army powerhouse topped off a memorable display with a try in each half as the Blue-and-Whites took full advantage of Bedford’s defeat at Doncaster to enter the top two for the first time since the turn of the year.

Despite Cov stretching their winning sequence to three games, head coach Alex Rae was frustrated by the amount of mistakes they made during a first 40 minutes which ended with Caldy 14-21 to the good.

“At the start of the game we scored a good try but then we stunk the place out and made too many errors,” he said. “I won’t repeat what I said at half-time, but to be honest we huffed and puffed our way through the game and although we won I’m not very pleased.”

Match Action

When Charlie Robson applied the finishing touch to a flowing 70-metre move in the opening seconds the home crowd were hopeful that a big win would materialise.

However, as they had on the Wirral in the autumn, Caldy harried the hosts into huge numbers of errors and in scrum-half Ollie Wynn and left-winger Will Robinson had the pace to turn this possession into points. Caldy were on terms after only five minutes when prop Joe Sproston powered over and, after Nayalo opened his account for the afternoon, Wynn got on Robinson’s shoulder to apply the finish to an outstanding 65-metre score created direct from a set-piece.

And after Coventry then lost Aaron Hinkley to the sin bin Robinson went from creator to finisher when he snapped up an awkwardly-bouncing ball on halfway and showed the cover a clean pair of heels.

Leading the charge: Coventry lock Senitiki Nayalo

PICTURES: John Coles

Robson’s easy finish brought Cov back on level terms once again soon after the restart and after Lewis Barker kicked a penalty for Caldy the home side stretched their lead for the first time thanks to a quick two-try salvo from Nayalo and No.8 Chester Owen.

When Cov lost Billy Nairau to a yellow card the visitors registered a try bonus-point when Tom Sanders darted through a gap. But any thoughts they retained of mounting a late comeback were quickly snuffed out by fine tries from Coventry’s replacement half-backs Josh

Barton and Theo Mannion. In a perfect day for the kickers, Mannion and Tommy Mathews shared seven conversions for the hosts while Caldy’s No.10 Barker finished with four conversions and a penalty.

Teams

COVENTRY: Robson 7 (Trotter 49, 6); Martin 7, Tiueti 6 (Hutler 40, 7), Hitchcock 8, Henry 6 (Salt 64-72, 6); Mathews 6 (Mannion 60, 7), Maunder 6 (Barton 49, 7); Warren 7 (Trinder 40, 7), Biggs 6 (Ma’asi 40, 8), Nairau 7 (Salt 73, 6); Green 6 (Poole 49, 7), Nayalo 9; Ball 7, Hinkley 6, Owen 7

CALDY: Kilcourse 6 (Rogers 73, 6); Royle 7 (Mitchell 72, 6), Wilkinson 7, Barlow 6, Robinson 8; Barker 7, Wynn 8 (Hanson 63, 6); Weatherby 6 (Rushton 56, 6), Gallagher 6 (Hearn 56, 6), Sproston 7 (Higginson 69, 6); Groves 6 (Stevenson 64, 6), Sanders 6; Jones 6 (Olyott 72, 6), Ridgway 6, Dickinson 6

REFEREE: Jonathan Cook

ATTENDANCE: 2,459

Star Player: Senitiki Nayalo – Coventry