COVENTRY RFC were valiantly beaten 19-13 in the Championship Cup final by Ealing Trailfinders as the club missed out in their first cup final in 48 years.
The visitors were keen to upstage Ealing and were well-placed to upset the odds after Josh Barton’s try and eight points from the boot of Tony Fenner left them seven points ahead.
However, the home side fought back to snatch a narrow victory and complete a league and cup double in the process despite Coventry’s best efforts at Trailfinders Sports Club.
Coventry’s loyal supporters heavily outnumbered Ealing’s contingent of fans despite the game being played at the capital club’s home ground.
And Ealing were first to trouble the scoreboard when Steven Shingler kicked a penalty after Coventry were penalised for not rolling away at the breakdown.
However, Coventry hit back in style on six minutes when Barton ran in unopposed from more than 50-metres out with Fenner adding the simple conversion to put the visitors into a four-point lead.
Ealing reduced the deficit to one point with another Shingler penalty before Fenner kicked his first penalty of the game to send Coventry into the break with a slender four-point advantage.
And Fenner kicked another penalty early in the second period to stretch Coventry’s lead to seven points after Ealing were penalised at the breakdown.
The home side once again relied on the boot of Shingler to bring them back into the contest before Jack Digby scored from a clever tap and go from close range on 61 minutes with Shingler easily adding the extras to put Ealing three points ahead.
Coventry pushed their opponents all the way and had two tries disallowed before Craig Willis kicked a routine penalty for Ealing.
The visitors kicked one last penalty to the corner as they attempted a late fightback but were penalised soon after as Ealing cleared the ball into touch to finally bring an end to Coventry’s cup dream.
