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'Shivers down my spine' - Leicester Tigers downed in Prem Cup shock

Aaron Hinkley of Coventry celebrates his teams win during the Premiership Rugby Cup match between Leicester Tigers and Coventry at Mattioli Woods Welford Road Stadium on November 09, 2024 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)

Coventry Rugby head coach Alex Rae was beaming from ear to ear after his club claimed its first win at Leicester since 1992 in Saturday’s Premiership Rugby Cup round two clash.

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Cov were good value for their 19-33 five-try success against opponents who surrounded talented academy players with a smattering of more experienced heads.

And according to local product Rae the reaction of Cov’s huge group of supporters as they greeted his players post-match created a truly unforgettable moment.

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The 20-min red card explained by referee Karl Dickson

Referee Karl Dickson explains the 20-min red card system that is in place during the Autumn Nations Series.

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The 20-min red card explained by referee Karl Dickson

Referee Karl Dickson explains the 20-min red card system that is in place during the Autumn Nations Series.

He said: “I got shivers down my spine at the end when I heard the Cov chant going round Welford Road – it was incredible.

“We said in the huddle after the final whistle that for old players like myself and coaches Gordon (Ross) and Scays (James Scaysbrook) those are the kind of special moments that you play for.

Leicester Tigers
Ryan Hutler in action at Leicester (credit: John Coles)

“The fans follow us home and away and to be able to share a moment like that with them is really special. This win is as much for them as for us and I hope we have many more similar moments this season.”

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Rae believes his unbeaten team, which at times this season has struggled to see off opponents destined to finish in the lower reaches of the Championship, revealed just how good they can be when they rise to an occasion.

“This team seems to thrive on the adrenaline of the big games as the bigger the occasion the better is our performance as we showed today,” he said.

“Maybe the challenge for us now is finding ways to bring this approach and attitude to every game including those at smaller venues against teams that everyone expects us to beat.

“We have Northampton coming to town next and we need to be ready for the Premiership champions as we want to beat them and finish top of the group.

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“We’re expecting the Premiership clubs will put out stronger teams in round three as they’re heading back into the league the following week so that game is a really exciting prospect.”

Rae said Cov’s famous win was built on a robust attitude that saw them physically dominate long periods of the first half when they built a substantial lead while scoring four tries in nine minutes.

“We did all the small things well,” he said. “We chased kicks really hard and I thought our physicality in defence laid the foundations for our win. There were times when every collision took Leicester backwards and it made us a very tough team to play against.

“Our maul defence was magnificent as for Leicester at Welford Road that is traditionally an area of real strength. They must have had six or seven opportunities to score from a five-metre lineout and the grit we displayed to keep them out was superb.

“The front row also did brilliantly well and denied Leicester any kind of platform at the scrum and that was another area where our determination and physical approach really served us well.”

In addition to praising his forwards Rae paid tribute to debutant fly half Tommy Mathews who recovered from an injury that has sidelined him since mid-August to play a pivotal role.

He said: “Tommy has only had two weeks of full training and he did a really good job for us today.

“I know lots of people were panicking when we lost Pat (Pellegrini) to Super Rugby in the Summer but we’ve managed to find two really good fly halves in Tommy and Liam Richman.

“They are very different players and characters but they have both controlled games really well for us this season. Today I thought Tommy showed great maturity about when to take the strain off scrum half Josh Barton and kick and he also got our attack going well at times with some lovely long passes.”

Tickets for Cov’s next home game in the cup against Northampton on Saturday November 23rd can be purchased at https://www.coventryrugby.co.uk/tickets/matchday-tickets/

Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 tickets application phase is now open! Apply now.

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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