COVENTRY Rugby head coach Alex Rae believes Championship clubs can put down a marker ahead of their involvement in the Premiership Rugby Cup.
Rae’s men will play Leicester Tigers and Northampton Saints along with Championship rivals Nottingham in the upcoming competition.
And as debate rages on regarding promotion from the second tier to the Premiership, Rae hopes the tournament will highlight just how strong the Championship is.
Rae said: “All the Championship teams have responsibility to show everyone this is a good league with some well-coached players and that the gap isn’t always that big between the Premiership squads and ours.
“Saints and Tigers will have a lot of international players away so it will be a good challenge for us. That’s exactly how we approached it last year when we did well against Saracens, Harlequins and Gloucester.
“We obviously don’t know how the Premiership clubs will rotate their squads, when they’ll give players time off and when they’ll want to re-introduce them ahead of the next block of league games.
“It may vary from club to club depending on if they’re looking to build wins and keep momentum or if they’re happy where they are, want to rest a few and give opportunities to squad players.
“But to be honest whoever we play against they will be good games against talented players which is really exciting for us and an opportunity to kick on and keep learning.”
Cov have enjoyed a perfect start to their Championship campaign after winning their first five matches of the new season.
And Rae is looking forward to seeing his side lock horns with old rivals Leicester and current Premiership champions Northampton.
Rae added: “Mentally and physically the week off came at just the right time for us and now we’re really excited for the Midlands derbies in the cup.
“Nottingham have had a really good start and are playing some good stuff so that will be a really tough game to start with this Friday.
“There’s loads of history between Coventry and Leicester and we’ve all seen just what an impact Michael Cheika has made since arriving there. They seem a different beast now, full of confidence and really enjoying their rugby so it will be a great challenge for us to go to Welford Road.
“We then have a home game against Premiership champions Northampton. They play a great style of rugby regardless of who they pick as it’s in their DNA to play the game the right way.
“They have some really good young players in their academy and a really strong squad. No doubt that will be a sell-out game for us and as a player they’re the kind of games you want to play in.”
Coventry begin their Premiership Rugby Cup campaign against Nottingham on Friday, November 1 with kick-off at 7.45pm at the Lady Bay Ground.
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