COACH Andy Black insisted there had been no gloom over Tenbury’s tough start to the season but acknowledged his side still had adjustments to make.

The Palmer’s Meadow outfit, promoted last season, suffered a fourth straight Midlands Four West (South) defeat in a 40-8 home setback to Coventrians on Saturday.

It had been a tight contest for the most part with winger James Martyn-Smith rounding off an incisive move to provide Tenbury’s only try following good work from Adam Weston.

But with matters still very much in the balance, the match turned on tight-head Craig Curtis being forced off with an injury that saw him require eight stitches in his forehead.

“We were in the game up to the 60th minute, there was about one score in it but the cleanliness of the game deteriorated for one reason or another,” said Black.

“When Craig got taken off, it did distract the whole thing. There was minor bickering and we did not focus on the game.

"We know we have to learn from that.

“There were a few minor scuffles and we lost our concentration.

"We played very well with the pack and the backs performed admirably but there was that distraction in the final 20 minutes due to the unsavoury antics that were going on.

“It was an unfortunate situation.

"When we all spoke after the game, everybody acknowledged how well we had done up to that point and that it was disappointing how we had lost our focus due to everything else that was going on.

“That summarised the game.

"We had 20 players there, each of them got on to the field with good rotation in the front row, second row and the backs.”

Black argued the troublesome ending had given him plenty of food for thought going into Saturday’s trip to Coventry Welsh.

“We are developing as a squad,” he added.

“The team is facing different opposition, we haven’t come up against these teams before and while we are generally holding our own, we have to be a bit more physical in terms of our style of rugby.

“We have been addressing that in our training sessions and will continue to do so moving forward.

"We have to take a more physical approach to our game.

“The group is very positive, though.

"Everyone was in agreement that we were well in the game up to the 60-minute mark.

“We have another match coming up on Saturday and the players are in good spirits.

"We are not looking at the scores too much at the moment, we are looking at the development of the team, how we train and the performances on the field.

“We do have to look at the key games, of course, but we also have a few players to come back in once the farming has finished.

"From there, I think we will be good to go. We do need to adjust our training sessions to gain that physicality and perhaps get more fitness into it.”