RUGBY UNION - Coventry Rugby head coach Rae remaining 'confident' despite blip - The Coventry Observer
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RUGBY UNION - Coventry Rugby head coach Rae remaining 'confident' despite blip

Aaron Sutcliffe 31st Dec, 2024   0

ALEX Rae is remaining ‘confident’ despite his Coventry Rugby side suffering a third straight defeat against Nottingham.

Rae’s men lost 41-26 at Nottingham which followed defeats against league leaders Ealing Trailfinders and Cornish Pirates.

However, Rae hopes to use the upcoming break in the season to assess the reasons behind his side’s recent struggles.

Rae said: “The last three weeks haven’t been ideal but I’ve every confidence we’ll get back to where we need to be after this break.

“We’ll go away and assess where we’re at in the break that’s coming up.

“Having just lost three times it’s come at the right time for us as we’ve got a big set of league and cup games coming up in January and February.




“As much as we’re all disappointed you don’t become a bad team overnight and we’ll regroup, work hard and get better.

“Last week was fine margins against Ealing but we were way off against Cornish Pirates and in the first half [against Nottingham] and we need to look at why that happened.”


Tries from Toby Trinder, Jordon Poole, Jimmy Martin and Will Biggs ensured Cov came away from the Lady Bay Ground with a losing bonus point.

And Rae bemoaned the loss of key players to injury with eight of 34 players unavailable for their recent trip to Nottingham.

Rae added: “We’re missing a few important players at the moment through injury but we back all the lads and it’s an opportunity for whoever steps up.

“Any team would miss Senitiki Nayalo or Aaron Hinkley who both were unavailable through injury and illness, but it gave young lads like Chester Owen and Dan Green the chance to grow and get better.

“We’re not Ealing with a massive budget and a huge squad which allows them to roll on name after name. We have players who have joined us from universities and lower-league clubs and some of them have had exceptional starts to their time at Coventry.”

Coventry are next in action against Doncaster Knights on Saturday, January 18 with kick-off at 3pm at Butts Park Arena.

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