Nottingham’s recent run of poor form continued, having now only won one of their last 11 outings, as Coventry snapped their own four match losing streak with a convincing victory at Butts Park Arena that included five tries for their winger David Opoku, a new Championship single game record.
Matt Kvesic, who will be departing to captain the newly reformed Worcester Warriors next season, got the first of Coventry’s 11 tries after 10 minutes, with Nottingham’s Ryan Olowofela off the field following a deliberate knock on.
Opoku got the first two of his tries in quick succession either side of Olowofeka rejoining the action. The wind was really in the home side’s sails at this point but the Archers managed to stand firm until the closing stages of the half.
A prolonged period of pressure from Alex Rae’s men saw them held up over the line but they came again and when Jack Dickinson collapsed the driving maul he was sent to the bin and a penalty try was awarded, making it Coventry 24-0 Nottingham at half time.
James Cherry gave the visitors hope five minutes into the second period when he finished off a Will Yarnell line break but it was a false dawn as Opoku immediately replied by completing his hat-trick.
Both sides then made a raft of replacements but that only seemed to benefit the home side as they ran riot in the final quarter of the match.
Opoku went on to claim his fourth and record breaking fifth tries as well as a brace from Tom Hitchcock and scores for Aaron Hinkley and Will Lane, making the final score Coventry 67-5 Nottingham.
Head Coach Craig Hammond said: “The first yellow card cost us 14 points and Coventry are good at finding space and put the ball in behind us.
“At half-time we were 24-0 down and then got back to 24-5 and I was all right with that but we then let them play their game, which they are very good at. When they find some space they attack and the frustrating thing is that we just weren’t good enough in the second half.”