Coventry Not Good Enough but Pretty Good Anyway

By Brian Dick on Oct 20, 08 12:28 PM in

Coventry's trip to Leeds on Sunday was one that filled me with foreboding.

As if the disparity between the two teams wasn't enough in financial terms - this was only underlined by the army of clip-boarders doing market research on the Carnegie Experience as I walked through the gates, it became even more apparent on the pitch.

Up front, where honest endeavour can conceal so many cracks, there wasn't too much between the sides but in the backs the teams lived on different stratospheres and that's why the 52-point margin of victory was so vast.

While Leeds were able to field Alberto Di Bernardo and Henry Paul alongside the outstanding Tom Biggs and Jonny Hepworth, poor Cov were completely under-powered.

George Dixon and Donovan Sanders are a massive improvement on the pairing that started the season and battled valiantly but when it came to pace Cov simply couldn't live with their hosts.

Which was why the scoreline was so harsh on the pack who fought manfully and out-scrummaged their opponents. Laurence Ovens was brilliant - and should have his loan from Bath extended, as was Rob Dugard.

Indeed if Chris Whitehead had been able to hit any of his jumpers while Cov pressed in the first half hour it might even have been a different game.

But when one side has a squad of around £3m and the other probably ten per cent of that, it is clear why things looked so lop-sided on the scoreboard.