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Coventry President Peter Rossborough is confident that the club can be saved after Birmingham based administrators Begbies Traynor took over at the Butts Park Arena following former owner Andrew Green’s attempt to put the club into voluntary liquidation.

BBC Sport reports, “Rossborough said: "They'll try to generate some saleability, so to speak. They assured the players there are lots of people out there who would want to do things like this. They've already had several expressions of interest."

Rossborough says that the immediate priority at the 135-year-old club is to help the staff, who have not been paid for six weeks.

Triggered by donations of over £1,500 raised at the Ricoh Arena, when Cov played Bedford on Friday night, a Players' Trust Fund has been created. Rossborough told BBC Coventry & Warwickshire:

"They would like to make it attractive enough for other people to come in and invest.

"They wanted to inform staff of the situation which is still pretty dire, and tell them what they're going to do. Coventry showed fantastic spirit in adversity last Friday night, recovering from being 15-0 down to draw with high-riding Bedford. Forwards Aaron Carpenter (2) and Jamie Hall ran in three unconverted second-half tries as Phil Maynard's side heroically came back to draw 15-15.

But, once the red tape has been sorted, the club will then be docked 15 points for going into administration, which would plunge them even deeper into the Championship's bottom four.

Championship neighbours Birmingham & Solihull were handed a 15-point penalty when they went into administration in October. And, if the same were to happen to Cov, it would effectively condemn them to the end-of-season four-team relegation play-offs.”

In other news from the Butts Park Arena it has been announced that Saturday’s match at Sandy Park against Exeter Chiefs will go ahead after the Devon club agreed to meet all of Coventry’s expenses.

Exeter chief executive Tony Rowe told the BBC, “This is also a very important fixture to Exeter Chiefs in the run-up to some crucial games in the coming months. We also did not want to let down the supporters who have already bought tickets for this game, so I am pleased to confirm this fixture will go ahead as planned on Saturday."

Coventry have also confirmed that their next home fixture on December 18 th against the Cornish Pirates at the Butts Park Arena (7.45pm) will go ahead as planned.

After the battling 15-all draw against Bedford Blues on Friday night at the Ricoh Arena director of rugby Phil Maynard told the Coventry Telegraph, “ That kind of performance is an indication of what the team is thinking. It was a gutsy performance, no-one is thinking of dipping out – there was no shortage of effort from on to 22 and all the coaching staff.

“You could hear the volume the crowd made in the second half. The lads were saying how much it lifted them. If we continue that and get that kind of support who knows?”

“It’s one step forward and three back. But the point has to be made just because they dock us points doesn’t mean we are a bad side. I’d have fancied finishing in the top eight as we were because I think we would have got stronger as this young team comes together.

“That’s the fourth time on the trot we have annihilated a pack, the forwards have been going well. It was a funny atmosphere before the start of the game. There were some words I have not used for a very long time – like pride. If we are in the bottom four, so be it. It’s another league to win isn’t it?”

Breaking News at Nottingham

Nottingham Rugby`s landlords, Notts County FC, are on the verge of a potential management takeover after it emerged that chief executive Peter Trembling and director of football Sven Goran Eriksson are seeking UK financial backing to secure the bid.

The club is currently owned by Munto Finance and the rugby club faced eviction from their current home at Meadow Lane during the summer as relations between the owners and themselves turned frosty.

Quite what the implications of this proposed deal are to Nottingham Rugby remains to be seen but Eriksson has reportedly threatened to walk away from the club if Muntoo reject the take-over.

Full story www.thisisnottingham.co.uk

Sick Bees

Birmingham & Solihull have seen their already makeshift squad dealt a further blow as swine flu has ravaged the camp.

The Birmingham Mail reports, “The Sharmans Cross outfit were forced to field a makeshift side at Bristol on Sunday with two players dropping out in the build-up.

No.8 Leo Halavatau pulled out on Saturday while new captain Ross Noonan was also unable to participate in the 28-0 defeat.

And with Canadian international Stuart Ault still struggling with a hamstring, that meant coach Eugene Martin had to field several players out of position.

Prop Ken Dowding went into the second row while Adam Clayton filled in at No.8 and centre Ronnie McLean moved to the wing.

And while he was gratified by his charges’ response to adversity, Martin admitted an epidemic is something his team can do without.”

Full story www.birminghammail.net

Howells bemoans wasted chances

Doncaster Knights boss Lyn Howells told the Sheffield Star of his disappointment at losing to Exeter Chiefs by just 14-9 on Saturday.

He said, "I was disappointed with the result because it was a game that we could have won. We created enough chances to have won the game but we weren't able to capitalise on them. When you play against top sides you don't generally get many chances and when you do you have got to take them and, as I say, we didn't do that.

We made clean breaks but we didn't get enough people to the ball-carrier and, as such, we weren't able to make the final pass to score.

Howells continued, “They were clear-cut chances - that is the annoying thing."

Exeter are good, clinical side and the best team in the league, but a lot of people won't have enjoyed the game because of the amount of kicking.”

"People pay good money to be entertained and I wouldn't have thought that they will have found the game entertaining, or exciting, apart from the fact the scores were so close. We knew that they didn't play a lot of rugby and that they kicked a lot for position.

"We defended well and our discipline was good, but overall we didn't play as well as in recent games.”

Chiefs urged to seal play-off spot quickly

Following Saturday’s win for the Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter has told the Express & Echo how securing a place for his team in the promotion play-offs has to be achieved sooner rather than later.

With Exeter now boasting twelve straight wins this season Baxter said,

"We've talked all season about earning a top-eight place. We'll keep focusing on earning that top-eight place.”

"Once we've earned that top-eight place we'll start focusing on hitting the final third of the season with real quality.”

"What slightly changes now and what people weren't prepared for is that the top eight is not clear-cut. Ten league games will go very quickly, I think there will be a few battle royals just to decide who's going to be in the top eight.

"It may well be that a lot of teams can't really plan on going into the final part of the season on top form, they're just going to be battling until the final whistle of the last game.

"That will benefit some teams because they'll go into the play-off games used to fighting for league points, for others it may mean they have emptied the tank a little bit too much.

"What you've got to make sure is that you're neither one, that you hit that final part of the season with enough game time to be on form but that you've got a bit more to give, you can put it into overdrive and off you go. That's where we intend to be."

Full story www.thisisexeter.co.uk

The Western Morning News reports thast the Chiefs have further bolstered their pack with the signing of 26 year-old Ireland A lock David Gannon.

Gannon has arrived after a spell with New Zealand NPC side Southland Stags and has previously played for Connacht.

Rob Baxter said, “He has a lot of big game experience for someone of a relatively young age and he joins us off the back of a successful Air New Zealand Cup campaign, so will be match-fit and ready to go very quickly."

Full story www.thisiswesternmorningnews.co.uk