ALEX Rae felt defeat at Cornish Pirates ‘humbled’ his side as Coventry Rugby lost in the league for the first time this season.
Coventry saw their seven-game winning run in the league come to an end following a 46-14 defeat at The Mennaye.
And Rae admits his side did not get the basics right as Cov lost top spot in the Championship table to Ealing Trailfinders.
Rae said: “Rugby is a really simple game and if you don’t have the same energy levels as the opposition you’re going to struggle.
“The reason we were beaten is simple – we lost the basics of rugby. You have to turn up and have energy, be physical and want to get out there and make a statement about yourself but we got humbled.
“We never got going and we have to look at ourselves and work out why that happened. I have to ask myself if I haven’t coached the team well enough this week for them to bring that energy and if that is the case then that’s on me.
“People have spent lots of money to travel to Cornwall and support us and I just don’t accept that kind of performance.”
The Pirates ran in seven tries to Coventry’s two as Liam Richman scored all of the away side’s points in Penzance.
And ahead of hosting new league leaders Ealing this weekend, Rae wants to see the character of his group come to the fore.
Rae added: “Next week obviously doesn’t get any easier and in Ealing we have a really good team coming to Coventry.
“I’m really interested now to see the character of the group. We’ve had it pretty good so far this season when we’ve won our first seven league games, done well in the cup and been on a bit of a roll.
“When you’re winning it’s easy, losing games is when you find out about people. I’ve said to the players that I don’t want any sulkers, any moaners or anyone with their head down as we need to get straight back to work and erase the performance.
“I am part of it and am now going to make sure we work incredibly hard to put things right before next week.”
Coventry entertain Ealing on Saturday, December 21 with kick-off at 3pm at Butts Park Arena.
