Coventry 19 Blaydon 17

Having played their best rugby of the season Blaydon were denied what would have been an important victory against 6th placed Coventry in a contentious incident with just 2 minutes remaining. Deep into the home 22 they had a three man overlap with centre Tom Grimes heading for the line only to be felled and concussed by an illegal tackle which could have warranted a penalty try and a red card, but neither was forthcoming.
A losing bonus point then was their only reward for a spirited performance that had seen them fight back after conceding 2 converted tries in the opening 10 minutes.
Coventry had taken the lead when they moved it on from a 5th minute line-out and retained possession until flanker Tom Jubb burst through a gap with James Pritchard converting. Five minutes later from a similar line-out move they passed it through the hands for winger Rob Knox to shoot over, Pritchard again on target to make it 14-0.
Having taken some time to get into the game Blaydon then enjoyed a good spell of territory and possession and after the forwards had taken it through umpteen phases lock-forward Chris Wearmouth touched down for Brett Connon to add the extras. The half ended with the deficit down to 14-10 after a Connon penalty and Blaydon were now well in contention.
Most of the second period was spent in the Coventry half but it took until the 70th minute for Blaydon to grab the lead through replacement hooker Cameron Bell, his first try for the club, when he robbed a home player and raced over. Connon’s conversion made it 14-17 with only a few minutes remaining but Coventry in only their 2nd visit of the half to the visitors 22 found space for No8 Darrel Dyer to pull back a try.
Blaydon got straight back to the other end however and with a winning try beckoning were denied in a most unsatisfactory manner.

John Brennan