The Lions travelled to Championship side Coventry Rugby for a pre-season game that at least on paper looked liked a mismatch. There was little to separate the sides on the day though and at one point it looked as though the Lions might pull off what would have been a historic victory against the side who finished 3rd in English rugby's 2nd tier last season. That wasn't to be though as the professional outfit eventually secured a 33-21 victory.

The Lions took to the Butts Park Arena on a bright but blustery day against a Coventry side that included a number of players with Premiership experience including ex-Worcester and England flanker Matt Kevesic who was making his debut for the club.

Coventry are known for playing a fast game, especially on their artificial pitch, but it was the Lions who started the brighter of the two sides. They were soon rewarded when newly signed prop Aaron Dawson was driven over from close range for a try which another new signing, and former Coventry fly-half, Dan Lewis converted.

The home side were soon on level terms though when hooker Jordan Poole made a break from a quick tap and found another Worcester recruit, Tobi Wilson, with an audacious offload. The full back raced away to touch down and fly-half Evan Mitchell added the extras.

The Lions went straight back on the attack though and had a couple of good scoring chances that they failed to convert. First there was a knock on from a five-metre attacking lineout and then new winger Malelili Satala narrowly failed to win the race to a well-placed crossfield kick from Dan Lewis. This left the sides all square at the break.

Coventry came out with a completely different 15 for the second half whereas the Lions remained relatively unchanged. This new unit started quickly and soon scored through winger Ryan Hutler. This was followed by another try by centre Will Rig who cut through the Lions defence with a clever line. Theo Mannion converted both tries to take the home side in to a 21-7 lead.

At this point it appeared that the floodgates may well open but this didn't happen. The Lions soon got themselves back on the attack and Coventry lost no.8 Tiki Nayalo to the sin bin for preventing a quick penalty. The Lions took full advantage driving skipper Tom Williams over for a try which Dan Lewis converted.

The Lions were then back on level terms soon after the hour mark when scrum half James Stubbs reacted quickest to a midfield turnover and outpaced the cover defence to score from 50 metres out. Dan Lewis again converted successfully.

The Lions unfortunately spilled the ball from the resulting kick off though and Coventry took full advantage, spinning the ball out for their pacy winger David Opoku to score in the corner and regain the lead.

With less than 10 minutes remaining and the Lions only 5 points behind they had two lineouts in the opposition 22 but were unable to execute either opportunity and claim what could have been a memorable victory. Then with only minutes remaining Coventry fly-half Theo Mannion capitalised on a Lions error in midfield, as they pushed for that winning score, rounding off the scoring with a try under the posts that he then converted.

Leicester Lions' head coach Gareth Collins had these comments following the game: ''I'll be honest, I was very apprehensive about this fixture. The idea was to take the boys out of their comfort zone and play an opposition which would be even more physical and quicker than what we are going to face in the league this year, but Coventry are such a good side that there was always the potential for the result to be quite de-motivating. Our goal was just to try and compete, and make it as hard for Coventry as possible, but we did more than that. The boys really rose to the challenge and I was so impressed with the fight and attitude we showed today. To think 12 months ago we were preparing for a National 2 season and now we are not only playing in a stadium against a fully professional outfit, but going toe-to-toe with them as well. It's all a bit surreal really. Clearly we can take some huge positives out of today but we also need to quickly move on. Hinckley will provide a tough test in our last pre-season game next week and that is our sole focus now.''

Leicester Lions: Patrick; Sterland, Veebel, Bouchier, Satala; Lewis, Stubbs; Williams ©, Taylor, Dawson; Godefroy, Ward; Koroiyadi, Murdoch; Cairns. Replacements: Rudkin, Thompson, Roberts, Coulson, Johnson, Stoker, McCarthy, Martin, Davies, Crowley, Brooks.

Coventry first half team: Wilson; Opoku, Wand, Titherington, Martin; Mitchell, Ogden; Chilvers, Poole ©, Andrews; Anstey, Smith; Stone, Kvesic, Bartlett.

Coventry second half team: James; Hutler, Rigg, Betteridge, Martin/Opoku (shared); Mannion, Lane; Trinder ©, Ma’asi, Salt; Anstey/Smith (shared), Tyas; Owen, Ball, Nayalo.

Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe

Half-Time: Coventry Rugby 7-7 Leicester Lions

Scorers:

Coventry Rugby:

Tries: Wilson (13) Hutler (43) Rigg (47) Opoku (64), Mannion (75)

Conversions: Mitchell (13) Mannion (43) (47) (75)

Leicester Lions:

Tries: Dawson (7) Williams (53) Stubbs (63)

Conversions: Lewis (7) (53) (63