DIRECTOR of rugby Rowland Winter bemoaned a lack of ruthlessness after Coventry slipped to a 20-19 defeat at Doncaster Knights in the Championship Cup.
Despite outscoring their hosts by three tries to two, Coventry somehow came away from Castle Park with only a losing bonus point.
In a match which never really got going, due in no small part to the award of around 35 penalties, the hosts led 13-5 at the break after 40 minutes during which Cov winger Junior Bulumakau responded to Will Owen’s early score.
Replacement James Stokes then struck twice for Cov in the second period, either side of a powerful finish from home replacement back-rower Ciaran Booth.
Stokes’s second try clinched a losing bonus point but with only seconds remaining the visitors were unable to secure field position from which they could break their seasonal duck on the road.
Winter said: “We can’t afford to come away from home against a side as good as Doncaster and be as inaccurate as we were in their back yard.
“Early on we had a couple of lineouts, we had a dropped ball from the kick from Tony Fenner and we were in at the side and gave away a couple of penalties, so there were four or five attacking opportunities early on.
“We then ended up five metres off their line and threw it in not straight.
“So if we take those chances, then we can put more pressure on a side like Doncaster and maybe come away with more points.”
Coventry’s next Championship Cup clash comes on Saturday when Yorkshire Carnegie visit the Butts Park Arena.
