Tries were the order of the day on a sunny Sunday afternoon at The Bay, as Nottingham and Coventry got over the line twelve times between them with Coventry running away with the game in the end.
Coventry controlled the first half, getting the first points of the game eight minutes in. They had been knocking on the door for a while, at first trying to use their forwards to pound it over the line, but changed tact by firing it out wide to James Martin who was able to finish in the left corner.
The visitors had a couple more chances to add to their lead, but weren’t able to do so until Pat Pellegrini darted through a gap in the try line defence and dove for the line.
Nottingham got one back though through Morgan Bunting, who started the move with a delicate grubber kick to Harry Graham on the left wing to put him through, and finished it by taking the offload to beat the last man and putting it down under the posts.
However, that wasn’t enough to shake Coventry and they finished off the half with two impressive tries made by their forwards, the first scored by Jordan Poole who pushed his way over the line from a driving maul, and the second a penalty try which gave them the bonus point right on the brink of half time.
The second half started out with a bang, as the two teams combined for five tries inside fifteen minutes from the restart.
Ellis Mee kicked off the flurry of tries for the Archers, beating a couple of men on the right side to finish in the corner. However, Chester Owen put his name on the scoresheet twice in quick succession, first breaking through the Nottingham defence thirty metres out and getting past Harry Graham, and then finishing in the corner just a couple of minutes later after his side took advantage of a poor clearing kick.
The try-happy start to the second half was continued when David Williams intercepted a wayward pass and took it the entire length of the pitch to score for the twelfth time this season.
Minutes later Daffyd Rhys Tiuetti showcased some nice feet to get through the Coventry defensive line and offloaded to Mee to finish and to bring the gap to just twelve points heading into the closing stages of the game.
However, any hope of a late comeback was squashed when Coventry put in two quick tries with ten minutes on the clock, first Toby Venner finishing off a well-worked attack, and then Pellegrini intercepting a pass in the middle of the pitch and taking it all the way for the score.
Nottingham will be back in action next weekend as they travel down south to face London Scottish.