PAT Pellegrini scored a hat-trick of tries in a 22-point haul as Coventry RFC thrashed Doncaster Knights 47-7 to secure a fourth straight win in the RFU Championship.
Pellegrini’s treble was supported by tries from Will Rigg, Louis Brown, Will Talbot-Davies, Will Lane and James Martin in a bonus point victory at Butts Park Arena.
The result leaves Coventry in third place in the RFU Championship table, 10 points behind leaders Ealing Trailfinders.
Both teams made a slow start before Pellegrini kicked a penalty to break the deadlock and two quickfire unconverted tries from Rigg and Pellegrini put Coventry into a 13-point lead.
However, the visitors responded when Sam Daly crashed over from a rolling maul with Sam Olver adding the extras to reduce Coventry’s lead to six points at the interval.
The home side scored their third try early in the second period when Brown finished acrobatically in the corner from Martin’s pass with Pellegrini adding the extras.
And Coventry grabbed their fourth try on the hour mark when Rigg glided through Doncaster’s defensive line from halfway before Will Chudley passed to Pellegrini who dotted down his second of the afternoon.
Coventry went over again just five minutes later as the ball was shifted out wide to Talbot-Davies who powered past his opposite number to score.
And the home side crossed three times in the final 10 minutes as Pellegrini completed his treble when he found a gap in the Doncaster defence before Lane scored a simple try and Martin touched down Coventry’s eighth try in the corner.
Coventry are next in action away at Hartpury University on Saturday, December 10 with kick-off at 2.30pm at the Alpas Arena.
