Coventry Jets taste success in MacMillan Bowl

The Coventry Jets tasted victory for the first time in almost two years as they overcame the weather and the West Coast Trojans for a hard fought 25-6 win.

With driving rain falling for hours prior to kick-off, and throughout the first half, the Coventry Saracens pitch looked more like a mud bath and the conditions certainly played a part in the outcome. The boggy conditions didn’t seem to bother Tony Perkins as the workhorse running back carried 31 times for 179 yards and two touchdowns.

Coventry’s first drive was brief and ended in a short Elliot Strong punt but West Coast couldn’t capitalise on the field position as quarterback Gary McNey couldn’t handle the snap. Rookie linebacker Adam Gibson reacted quickest and covered the loose ball to snatch possession back for the Jets. Perkins churned up 20 yards on three carries before Joe Brammer found Chris Hobbs open after beating his coverage for a 28 yard touchdown and a 6-0 lead. Strong converted the extra point and Coventry led for the first time in almost 12 months.

Alan Steel’s defence protected the lead on the visitors next few possessions and closed out the quarter with a 13 yard sack by Daniel Shodipo. Perkins again carried the load for the Jets and set up Brammer for a five yard touchdown run to push Coventry’s lead to thirteen. Strong’s PAT was blocked and could have been returned for two points but for Dominic Olney’s persistence to track down the ball carrier and make the tackle.

A solid kick return set the visitors up in the Jets’ half and McNey guided his team to the nine yard line with Jordan Falconer breaking tackles to score and pull the Trojans within seven. McNey’s PAT pass attempt was broken up by Adam Biggs to leave the score at 13-6. It could have been much worse for the Jets as their following drive ended with a punt that was returned by Falconer for what looked like a 69 yard score. However, one of the officials had whistled that the returner was down at the point where he took possession. Some of the Jets’ players pulled up at the whistle as Coventry likely dodged a bullet.

With the shift in momentum averted the Trojans failed to progress and punted the ball back to Coventry. The Jets though were also unable to move the ball as the rain continued to fall but a good punt from Strong pinned the Trojans deep before veteran linebacker Dave Cowen picked off McNey and returned the ball to within West Coast’s redzone. Perkins got the reward for his hard work with a three yard touchdown run as the Jets padded their lead before half-time. With another Strong PAT kick blocked the score at the break was 19-6 in Coventry’s favour.

Both sides traded punts and fumbles throughout the third quarter as ball security became an increasing issue in the sodden conditions. The Trojans, who’d made the seven hour trip from Scotland that morning, seemed to find the going more difficult than the Jets and two further fumbles helped the hosts, and Perkins, to another score, this time breaking tackles to sprint 40 yards to the endzone. Olney attempted to run in the conversion but was stopped well short of the goal-line and the game ended 25-6 with Paul Rickhuss able to celebrate his first victory as Head Coach.

“I’m delighted with the performance today” said Rickhuss “quite apart from a very good Trojans side we had to deal with the weather and we went about everything very professionally. We managed to get all 41 of our players on the field today and everyone did their job and played a part. It was a great team effort and, whilst it wasn’t perfect, was a massive improvement on last week. We’ll celebrate a long-overdue win tonight and start thinking working towards our next game tomorrow.”

The Jets travel to Telford on Saturday to take on the newly promoted Shropshire Revolution. It’ll be the hosts first game of the season, and first since they were beaten by the Trojans in the playoffs last year. Coventry will be hoping to have most of the 13 players that were unavailable on Sunday back in the squad for what should be another very tough game.