Month: January 2023

Match Preview - Blackheath V Canterbury

Match preview – Blackheath V Canterbury

Posted on | by Denys Andrianjafy

A few forced changes this week unfortunately. Tyler Oliver has a thumb injury, no fracture but will be out for between 1-3 weeks depending how it responds. Jamie Stephens moves to Number 8 and Harvey Furneaux comes on to the bench. Part of Lewis Hollidge’s loan agreement was for him not to play against Blackheath, therefor he is unavailable. Ross Gladdish starts at 13 with Vaughn Meredith joining the replacements. Cam McMillan starts at hooker after a good performance last week. Nathan Morris moves to the bench as he is managing an ankle injury.

Last week was exactly how we wanted to start the new year. I think it’s important to acknowledge that Westcliff are on a difficult part of their journey and their players battled hard for 80 minutes. All clubs go through difficult periods, and I want to wish them all the best for the rest of the season. From my perspective, I was really pleased to see the way the players performed and how their hard work keeping fit over Christmas had paid off. Three weeks without a game is a challenge and the players managed to pick up where we left off. Another positive from the weekend was seeing Will Waddington be acknowledged for his consistently strong performances by being awarded NCA National 2 East player of the week.

This weekend poses quite a different challenge for us as we face Blackheath who are sitting at the top of the table. When they visited us at home we were humbled, conceding 57 points and our focus this week has been on giving a much better account of ourselves. We have a good understanding of what our strengths are and we know if we commit to these we are a very good team, we just have to be brave enough to show it.

Matt Corker, Head Coach

Gillingham Anchorians V CRFC Pilgrims

Match report – Gillingham Anchorians V CRFC Pilgrims

Posted on | by Denys Andrianjafy

Gillingham Anchorians 10 Canterbury Pilgrims 27

Pilgrims stepped up their challenge for the Counties Kent 2 title with a solid victory which lifted them to second place in the league table. They took an early lead  with a try from Tom Ashley-Jones and were in front for the rest of the game.  Will Calder and Jake Upward made the try, converted by Olli Finn . Within four minutes poor defending by Pilgrims allowed the home side to get the ball out wide and score. In the strong winds a kick was never going over.    What came to mar the game was reckless tackling which too often went unpunished and with it came injuries.  Rob Knott was the first to suffer but more serious was the damage to Alex Evans as he crashed over for a try in the 20th minute but had his afternoon cut short by a hospital visit. Will Calder, a young man with lots of potential, added a third Canterbury score to take the half time lead to 17-5  The first twenty minutes of the second half were awful, mistakes, stoppages, even the referee got injured. Then Eoin O’Donaghue received a lovely inside ball from Ross Howard and side-stepped the full back to score, Ollie missed the conversion but the bonus point had been secured. Anchorians kicked out to relieve pressure, took a quick throw in but it was intercepted by alert full back jack Weave who set his backs in motion. He then has looped around to take the ball and run through to score try number five. The last five minutes saw a yellow card handed to a home player, the first card of a game where arguably there could have been more. Ironically, it was Pilgrims who were then punished as Calder and Dan Gill were sent to the sin  bin. Canterbury must learn to keep quiet, play what is in front of them and not question the official. Anchorians took advantage with a consolation try.

Canterbury: A.Malik, E.O’Donoghue, J.Everatt, R.Knott, D.Gill, O.Finn, H.Furneaux, A.Evans, W.Calder, R.Howard, A.Geddes, J.Upward, V.Meredith, T.Ashley-Jones, J.Weaver. Replacements: B.Dunkerley, O.Ashley-Jones, F Holland-Oliver.

Danny H vs Westcliff

Match report – Canterbury 1st XV V Westcliff

Posted on | by Denys Andrianjafy

CANTERBURY 52 WESTCLIFF 14

by David Haigh

The resolution of the Canterbury pack got the New Year away to the best of starts as they laid the foundations of this decisive victory. Full back Will Waddington was the individual star of the show, grabbing three of his side’s eight tries, but it was forward power that made life hard for struggling Westcliff who were rarely allowed to get on the front foot. The city club’s mastery of the testing conditions was another crucial factor and with wind and rain behind them they reached half time 26 points clear and a bonus point in their pocket. The question was whether they could sustain that performance with the elements against them and it was answered emphatically. After conceding an early second half try they erased all doubts and ran away with the game in the final fifteen minutes. The Canterbury forwards made an early statement with tries from Number Right Tyler Oliver and lock Dave Irvine in the opening seven minutes. Frank Reynolds, who went on to land six conversions, added the goal points to both scores. Forceful carrying and close range drives set up prop Billy Young for the third try but it seemed Canterbury might have to settle for that as Westcliff, with the centre partnership of Reece Whiting and Jack Hogarth often prominent, found some momentum. A heavy penalty count and a yellow card for Young put the city side under pressure which they not only survived but produced a bonus point score. A slick off-load, clever footwork from Waddington, and a Reynolds conversion, built a substantial cushion. Westcliff fly half Greg Bannister unpicked some of the threads with a neat interception, a good finish, and an excellent conversion three minutes into the second half but the city side’s response was swift and determined; Reynolds made a scything break to set up Tom Best for the fifth try. There was only one minor hitch to Canterbury’s smooth progress when Westcliff seized on a loose ball and hooker Teddy Edwards won a touchdown which Bannister again converted. The visitors, however, battered at the scrums and leaking penalties, wilted under the late onslaught and could do nothing as the city club backs cut loose. Space was made for Waddington to twice sprint clear and seconds before the final whistle scrum half Tom Williams completed a victory which sees Canterbury move up a place in the National 2 East table.

Canterbury: W.Waddington, G.Hilton, L. Hollidge, T.Best, F. Morgan, F.Reynolds, B.Cooper, B.Young, N.Morris, D.Herriott, D.Irvine, J.De Vries, J.Dengate, C.Murray, T.Oliver. Replacements: R.Gladdish, J.Stephens, E.Lusher, T.Williams, C.Macmillan.

View Match photos

v Westcliff - 7 Jan 2023

Images may be subject to copyright – Phillipa Hilton
Whitstable 2nds V Zingari

Match report – Whitstable 2nds V CRFC Zingari

Posted on | by Denys Andrianjafy

This was a different Whitstable from their previous encounter, the Whitstable pack stopped Canterbury from making any serious inroads until twenty minutes into the first half. It was down to Brad Allchurch making a welcome return to the club setting off on a charging run from deep touching down out wide, to give the city side a slim lead. Whitstable pack having the slight edge at the set piece managed to maintain their fair share of possession but seemed unable to make any meaningful breakthrough, mainly due to some fierce tackling that secured the city side a small but significant halftime lead.

At the change round it looked as if things would remain the same until ten minutes in when Will Rayner made a breakthrough to go over near the posts, and with Kev Stevens’ conversion at least daylight could now be seen between the two sides. Whitstable’s response was to try and exercise some dominance using some accurate long-range clearance kicks that seemed to be very effective, but with time running out the city backs caught the Whitstable backs time and again behind the gain line opening up all sorts of possibilities. First to take advantage was Mark Stone slipping through the defence for a converted try, followed by Will Rayner’s second of the afternoon. With the city forwards still keeping up their work rate they unleashed their backs for one final attack in the dying moments, finished by Richard Collins’ tackle-breaking run to go under the posts, and with Kev Stevens added conversion sealed the game for the city side.

Try 

Richard Collins 1

Mark Stone 1

Brad Allchurch 1

Will Rayner 2

Conversions

Kevin Stevens 3

VS Westcliff

Match preview – 1st XV V Westcliff

Posted on | by Denys Andrianjafy

Its great for me to wish you happy new year and its also great that January has brought an end to the frozen pitches of December. That said the forecast is predicting a different weather challenge so it might be advisable to bring your wellies!

This time last season some of you may remember our first game back after the Christmas break was against Old Albanians at home. After that performance we were very disappointed, and we agreed we had not returned from the Christmas break in good enough condition. This year to combat repeating the same mistake the players have all been in positional WhatsApp groups and been sharing messages and photos of the sessions they have been doing on their own. The second row group was definitely the best, no bias I promise, and they were posting videos of their workouts, some even edited with background music! We also had an extra session on Monday to get the rust off and a Bronco fitness test on Tuesday in the wind a rain so we can measure how the players have returned. The results are so far showing that the players hard work has paid off, but the real test will be on Saturday afternoon.

There are only a couple of changes to the team that was selected to play against Tonbridge. Jamie Stephens returns to the bench after recovering from his concussion and it’s exciting to have him back in the fold. Tom Halliday had an operation over the break and is still recuperating so he is replaced by Lewis Hollidge. Lewis has joined us on loan from Blackheath and I am looking forward to seeing him have his first run out for Canterbury.

Matt Corker, Head Coach

CANTERBURY TALES

So, a new year is with us but the challenges remain the same. Between now and April we face a test of character if we are to preserve our status as a National Division 2 club. A big part of the problems in the first half of the season have been the team’s inability to come away with points from scoring positions. That lack of a finishing touch has resulted in a poor return of three wins from thirteen games and leaves us just one place above the relegation zone. So what lies ahead? We will no doubt be targeting certain home games starting with bottom club Westcliff and fixtures against Sevenoaks, Guernsey and, in the last, match of the season, North Walsham. Winning on the road is always difficult but next month’s trip to Rochford |Hundred is another potential points earner. On the player front we have new faces in the back division in centre Lewis Hollidge, who is on loan from Blackheath, and Ross Gladdish who joined from Westcliff in December and is another former Blackheath man. The return of skipper Jamie Stephens is a boost to the squad ahead of the Westcliff encounter while the promising Will,Calder, another sidelined recently by injury, is back on duty with the Pilgrims. Aiden Moss and Charlie Kingsman, both missing for over three months, may be declared fit later this month which could help restore some of the firepower we have badly missed.