Coventry put six tries past local rivals Birmingham Moseley to win their second pre-season friendly, but it wasn't all plain sailing, writes Richard Barnes.

The National League One team came with a point to prove, with seven of their squad having strong connections with their Butts Park Arena hosts.

The opening blows were cautious as both front rows failed to exert a degree of control at the scrum. Handling errors from both teams broke up the pace of the early play but Moseley, when in possession, more determined.

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Patrick Pellegrini last week impressed and did again as Cov sought to link the play from his fly-half position.

Cov scored first after 10 minutes. Moseley had given away a penalty, Pellegrini kicked to touch and hard work by Josh Bainbridge from the lineout presented James Martin with the ball who dived over in the corner. Pellegrini added the extras.

Moseley didn't look dispirited. For the next 10 minutes, the visitors' pack outfought their opponents and Moseley fly-half, Dan Lewis, looked to release the back line. Another penalty gave Moseley possession, Lewis kicked to touch five metres from the line with Suvwe Obano driving over from the lineout. The conversion was narrowly missed with the wind blowing the ball off the tee.

The next six minutes saw Louis Brown score a breakaway try for Cov assisted by Josh Bainbridge who engineered the pass that gave the scoring opportunity. Moseley hit back with Obano grabbing a second try from strong forward play and the extras added by Lewis making it 12-12 at half-time.

Substitutes came thick and fast at the opening of the second half for both teams as a way to break the deadlock was sought.

Cov had more forward bite with Jordan Poole scoring 11 minutes after his introduction. The next four minutes put the game out of reach of Moseley. Evan Mitchell and Adam Peters, both from the bench, scored tries having changed the dynamic of Cov's play to increase the intensity and add accuracy.

At 56 minutes and with the score at 33-12, you could have forgiven the old foes for giving up but they battled on. It was another handling error that stopped them reaping the rewards of their hard work.

In the dying moments of the game, with Moseley still pressing the standout moment of the game happened.

Shea Cornish, who caught the eye in the first preseason friendly, took possession 10 metres inside Cov's half, sidestepped and outfoxed the tiring Moseley team to sprint 50 metres to touch down between the posts to the delight of the 1,417 fans.

A conversion from the boot of Evan Mitchell made the score 40-12.

Still, Moseley wouldn't give in as the clock showed full-time, Cov had to battle hard to keep them out.

Cov head coach Alex Rae said: "I'm pleased with the progress made, we played with more intensity and made some good defensive blocks.

"Moseley did really well and fitness told in the end. Next week will be a massive step up against Bath. We scored good tries, played some attacking rugby and showed heart right at the end".

Coventry face Gallagher Premiership side Bath on Saturday, August 27 in a friendly that will be played at Broadstreet RFC.