29/05/2017

Jersey Reds will square up against National 1 side Coventry at St Peter in August as part of the build-up to the 2017/18 season.

The two sides will meet on Saturday August 12th - one of three pre-season matches for the Reds, with two further games to be announced shortly.

The pre-season match (kick-off time TBC) will offer a chance for supporters on the Island to check out the new faces in the Jersey squad prior to the opening weekend of action in the Greene King IPA Championship at the start of September.

Coventry are one of the historic names of English rugby, having been one of the country's pre-eminent clubs in the 1950s and 60s, and more recently played at level two of the league structure for two decades prior to relegation to National 1 in 2010.

The East Midlands side are ambitious to return to the Championship, and last season improved their Nat 1 ranking from ninth to fourth. They will be aiming for an even higher placing this season, and look set to challenge the likes of Plymouth Albion, Blackheath, Ampthill and local rivals Birmingham Moseley for the Nat 1 title.

As well as retaining 20 players from this season's squad, Cov DoR Rowland Winter has strengthened his hand with signings that include Luke Narraway from London Irish, Tom Wheatcroft from Ealing Trailfinders and Phil Nilsen from Yorkshire Carnegie.

Another new signing who will be a familiar face to the Jersey faithful is the combative Tongan back-row Latu Maka'afi, who signed for Cov recently from Doncaster Knights. Latu was one of the first professionals to sign for Jersey 'back in the day', playing for the club from 2006-08 and again in the Championship in 2013/14 before joining the Knights.

More info about the Coventry and previous games between the sides can be found HERE while a match report of last August's pre-season game at St Peter is available HERE