CALDY suffered a heavy 41-5 defeat away at Coventry as one of the Championship favourites flexed their muscles.

It was the Wirral side who took the lead after a good phase of play brought a lineout that Caldy won before Nyle Davidson went over.

There were a number penalties for both sides in the next quarter hour but neither side could take advantage of them in a tight opening of the game.

From a lineout in the 20th minute Coventry got on the scoreboard through a try close to the posts scored by Ryan Hutler and with a good conversion the Midlanders took the lead.

The game then became a bit scrappy and it looked as though Caldy could hold out until the break until the last minute when Mat Kvesic took advantage of a quick penalty and evaded the Caldy defence to score and give the home side a nine point advantage at the interval.

The second half was dominated by the home side with George Smith going over after three minutes of the restart and Lewis James scoring the bonus point try five minutes later.

A third second half try from Hutler took the game away from Caldy although the team did well repelling everything that the home side threw at them.

As the clock ticked to the final five minutes the full timers of Coventry took advantage of Caldy's tired legs and Hutler scored his hat-trick before a last minute try from George Smith sealed an emphatic win.

Next week Caldy play bottom side London Scottish. The Ravers' victory in the match last season was vital in securing their Championship status.