Hornets 60 - Coventry 10
On both fronts, this was a successful day for Hornets. Primarily, the game celebrated John Cookson’s sterling 10 years in the game: a fitting testimonial to an unassuming grafter who makes the hard yards week after week. Secondly, as a more accurate barometer of where they are in terms of readiness, Hornets had too much in the tank for a Coventry side who provided awkward opposition for half an hour, but faded as the game progressed.
Hornets seized the early initiative with two tries in the first 10 minutes: Samir Tahraoui off a short ball to crash in, then the ball whipped wide to Dale Bloomfield off a repeat set. 10-nil.
Cookie spectactularly fluffed the kick off (not one for the season’s highlight reel) to give the Bears good field position, but good defence defused the pressure. Hornets marched straight back downfield where the ball was shipped to Kieron Walpole who squeezed in at the corner. 14-nil, so far so rudimentary.
However, Coventry are no mugs. On 21 minutes a great kick from White bobbled teasingly into the space behind a stretching Bloomers, and Hunte was on hand to emulate his Uncle Henderson Gill’s pace to score out wide. And when Reid snaffled the ball in a scrappy play five minutes later, he found sufficient space in a napping Hornets defence to scoot through and score. 14-10 and the stirrings of a contest.
Not for long, though. Two darting tries from Danny Yates - the second off a mercurial break by Alex McClurg - saw Hornets head to the sheds 12-10 to the good.
Hornets started the second half with a visible increase in purpose. A whopping 40/20 from Paul Crook laid the platform for early pressure, and it was Crooky again three minutes later backing up a big line break by Alex Trumper, only to see the last pass go forward with Hornets streaming up in numbers.
No matter. Hornets hit the gas leaving Coventry to watch the game depart at a pace they couldn’t match.
50 minutes: Alex McClurg try off a short-ball; 53 minutes Lewis Galbraith jinking in off the end of some Harlem Globetrotters-style handling; 58 minutes, Jordan Case skating in off a repeat set. Crooky and Yatesey splitting the kicking duties and Hornets a vanishing dot at 44-10.
Just past the hour Ben Moores crashed through a static defence to score - and up stepped John Cookson to coolly slot the ball between the uprights from 30 metres to the biggest cheer of the afternoon.
Hornets rounded the game out with two late tries: Lewis Galbraith a carbon copy of his earlier effort, then Corey Lee a lightning blur off a punishing Jordan Case break.
Final Score 60-10 and a job well done.
Yes, we know it was Coventry’s first proper hit-out of the season, but they are a benchmark for performance in what will be a properly testing League 1. Ahead of that is the prospect of a nice trip to Barrow in the iPro Cup in two weeks.
I don’t envy Alan Kilshaw having to pick a 17 out of what’s been a pretty good pre-season. Indeed, when was the last time a Hornets coach managed to get all of their winter pre-season games played?
Time now for the real thing.
On both fronts, this was a successful day for Hornets. Primarily, the game celebrated John Cookson’s sterling 10 years in the game: a fitting testimonial to an unassuming grafter who makes the hard yards week after week. Secondly, as a more accurate barometer of where they are in terms of readiness, Hornets had too much in the tank for a Coventry side who provided awkward opposition for half an hour, but faded as the game progressed.
Hornets seized the early initiative with two tries in the first 10 minutes: Samir Tahraoui off a short ball to crash in, then the ball whipped wide to Dale Bloomfield off a repeat set. 10-nil.
Cookie spectactularly fluffed the kick off (not one for the season’s highlight reel) to give the Bears good field position, but good defence defused the pressure. Hornets marched straight back downfield where the ball was shipped to Kieron Walpole who squeezed in at the corner. 14-nil, so far so rudimentary.
However, Coventry are no mugs. On 21 minutes a great kick from White bobbled teasingly into the space behind a stretching Bloomers, and Hunte was on hand to emulate his Uncle Henderson Gill’s pace to score out wide. And when Reid snaffled the ball in a scrappy play five minutes later, he found sufficient space in a napping Hornets defence to scoot through and score. 14-10 and the stirrings of a contest.
Not for long, though. Two darting tries from Danny Yates - the second off a mercurial break by Alex McClurg - saw Hornets head to the sheds 12-10 to the good.
Hornets started the second half with a visible increase in purpose. A whopping 40/20 from Paul Crook laid the platform for early pressure, and it was Crooky again three minutes later backing up a big line break by Alex Trumper, only to see the last pass go forward with Hornets streaming up in numbers.
No matter. Hornets hit the gas leaving Coventry to watch the game depart at a pace they couldn’t match.
50 minutes: Alex McClurg try off a short-ball; 53 minutes Lewis Galbraith jinking in off the end of some Harlem Globetrotters-style handling; 58 minutes, Jordan Case skating in off a repeat set. Crooky and Yatesey splitting the kicking duties and Hornets a vanishing dot at 44-10.
Just past the hour Ben Moores crashed through a static defence to score - and up stepped John Cookson to coolly slot the ball between the uprights from 30 metres to the biggest cheer of the afternoon.
Hornets rounded the game out with two late tries: Lewis Galbraith a carbon copy of his earlier effort, then Corey Lee a lightning blur off a punishing Jordan Case break.
Final Score 60-10 and a job well done.
Yes, we know it was Coventry’s first proper hit-out of the season, but they are a benchmark for performance in what will be a properly testing League 1. Ahead of that is the prospect of a nice trip to Barrow in the iPro Cup in two weeks.
I don’t envy Alan Kilshaw having to pick a 17 out of what’s been a pretty good pre-season. Indeed, when was the last time a Hornets coach managed to get all of their winter pre-season games played?
Time now for the real thing.
