Coventry relish underdogs tag in Champ Rugby opener

Coventry are under no illusions as to the challenge facing them in Champ Rugby as they prepare to kick off their season against league newcomers Worcester Warriors at Sixways.

A sell-out crowd of 9,000 supporters is expected for Worcester’s return to competitive rugby, three years after the club was suspended by the RFU due to financial insolvency.

With the likes of former England internationals Billy Twelvetrees and Matt Kvesic, as well as experienced Prem performers like Josh Bassett and Matt Rogerson, Warriors come into the season with big ambitions, while Coventry will look to improve on last year’s fifth-place finish.

Alex Rae’s side looked to title contenders early in the season before falling back in the second half.

But this time around, Rae is happy to start off the new campaign with one of the toughest of all the tasks.

He said: “We’re the bridesmaids; you look at their team full of internationals, British Lions, hundreds of Premiership appearances, so on paper, no one will give us much of a hope, which is quite a nice place to be as the underdogs.

“We’ve probably got a different model, we can’t sign 100-cap Premiership players, we’ve got a young squad and we will look to develop them. We’ll go there and give it a good shot.

“It sounds like it’s sold out so it will be 9,000 so it will be a brilliant advert for the league. We will go as underdogs and see how we get on.”

Coventry have undergone considerable turnover in the playing squad over the off-season, as they prepare for their eighth consecutive season at this level.

A new half-back pairing of Josh Thomas and Sam Maunder – who joined midway through last season from Exeter Chiefs - as well as the arrival of Doncaster No.8 Morgan Strong, will be important as they look to get off to a quick start.

But Rae also knows that a restructure of the league means that keeping his squad fresh for the entire season will be crucial, with the return of play-offs at the end of the campaign.

He said: “It’s definitely interesting, I played in the league when they did something similar before.

“First past the post in years gone by, Ealing have run away with it and rightly so, they have been the best team.

“Now, if you can get in the six and be ready physically, have luck with injuries, knockout rugby is a great concept for me. You’d like to think your team can be pretty good in the big knockout games.”

A sleeping giant of English rugby, Coventry were among the biggest teams in England in the 1960s and 1970s, with the late David Duckham arguably their greatest-ever player.

Now, with a new broadcast deal that will see every Champ Rugby match streamed on subscription-only platform Clubber TV, the next generation of Coventry players will get their chance to show what they can do to a global audience.

And Rae knows only too well how Coventry can serve as a springboard for ambitious players, with former fly-half Pat Pellegrini having been spotted before featuring for Tonga at the 2023 Rugby World Cup and then getting picked up by Moana Pasifika in Super Rugby.

He added: “We’ve had a really good track record of kicking people onto Premiership, URC, Super Rugby. Pat Pellegrini scored a hat-trick for Tonga at the weekend and he was playing at Sevenoaks before coming to us. It’s a proving ground.”

The Champ Rugby 25-26 season starts on October 3. For more information, visit www.champrugby.com