COVENTRY Rugby head coach Alex Rae admits his side were not clinical enough in their Premiership Rugby Cup defeat against Northampton Saints.
Cov’s quarter-final hopes suffered a blow at Franklin’s Gardens as Premiership champions Saints claimed a 50-23 success.
And Rae admits Northampton’s star quality proved too much for his side who must now beat Leicester Tigers in their final pool game to stand any chance of reaching the last eight.
Rae said: “The calibre of players is different. You can’t afford to be untidy – at this level it’s a lot different to what our players are used to week-in and week-out.
“But that’s also a really good thing and at times when we got it right we looked dangerous.
“The effort from the players was there in abundance but at times we weren’t very clinical and our discipline wasn’t that good.
“We gave Northampton a bit of an ‘in’ to the game and you can’t afford to do that against a talented team. When they got on the front foot they took advantage of that.”
Tries from Jimmy Martin, David Opoku and Tom Hitchcock proved in vain for Rae’s side while Tommy Mathews added eight points from the kicking tee.
Saints ran in seven tries as Josh Kemeny, Angus Scott-Young, Tom Lockett, Tom Seabrook, Billy Pasco, Will Glister and Tom West all dotted down at Franklin’s Gardens.
Cov fell short in their attempts to score a bonus point try but Rae is remaining positive about his side’s chances of securing a coveted quarter-final place.
Rae added: “We weren’t clinical enough when we had opportunities to get back on top.
“I had spoken to the players at half-time, they’d weathered a fair few Saints attacks and we’d gone in to the break in a position where we could make something special happen.
“But it wasn’t to be and as a result we need to tidy up a few things – the sort of things you get away with in the Championship but don’t at this level.
“We really wanted that fourth try because it could be really important in the qualification picture.
“But even without it we’ve still got a chance of getting through.
“A really good occasion awaits us. Leicester Tigers at home back in Coventry is going to be a fantastic fixture, a historical fixture. Once we get over Saints we’ll be really looking forwards to it.”
Coventry host Leicester Tigers on Saturday, February 15 with kick-off at 3pm at Butts Park Arena.
