Month: August 2024

CANTERBURY 26 ESHER 45
by David Haigh

The first pre-season game is always a test bed for club squads and this one, played in four twenty minute sessions, was no exception but went Esher’s way in the later stages. At the half way mark Canterbury, with their experienced combinations on view, had built a fourteen point lead and were giving the National One side plenty of problems. When changes were made in the last two run outs Esher’s strengths saw them dominate possession, seize on defensive errors and collect five unanswered tries. The visitors took advantage of untidy work at the back of a scrum to take an early lead with a converted try. Canterbury matched that when Presley Farrance’s tap penalty opened the way for Harvey Young to show his flair with a finish under the posts. It was the second session which saw Canterbury at their most effective as they controlled the set pieces and registered three scores. Head Coach Matt Corker will have been pleased with the way his side stuck to their game plan, before sending Eoin O’Donoghue crashing over, and the technical excellence of a driving maul which ended in Tyler Oliver touching down. Esher exploited a missed tackle to grab an unconverted try before the city backs handled crisply for a fourth score. With Frank Reynolds on target with three conversions the gap was 26-12 The introduction of new combinations and several young players shifted the action in Esher’s favour. By the end of the third session they were just two points behind, as Canterbury left gaps around the ruck and slipped tackles in mid-field. In the final twenty minutes the Surrey side had the momentum and opened up space clinically to create three more touchdowns.

View match photos

Photos may be subject to copyright – Phillipa Hilton

Our much-loved David Haigh has today reached the magnificent age of ninety.

Born in Liverpool in 1934, David’s love for sport started at Newton-Le-Willows Grammar School playing both 1st XV rugby and cricket and representing Liverpool public schools at rugby. Leaving school with ‘A’ levels in English & History he always wanted to be a journalist with his first experience gained at the Wigan Examiner, whilst playing rugby at Waterloo

With his career going from strength to strength as a journalist, it was whilst working for the Sunday Express in the North East that he met his long-suffering wife Wendy, a secretary for the editor of the Daily Express in Glasgow, at a inter-department cricket match. They went on to get married in July 1961 in Newton Willows.

At 32 David made the permanent move to Broadcasting with the BBC and set up Look North in Leeds, rugby had taken a back seat as working all hours freelancing with BBC Radio outside broadcasts including Test Cricket with Jorn Arlott, Brian Johnstone, and Trevor Bailey.

Work brought David south as a producer at Southern TV on day by day where his love for rugby and cricket was re-kindled at Trojans RFC before moving locally to become a reporter in the Dover area, which is when he joined Canterbury RFC in 1976. By this time David had hung up his playing boots and taken up ‘the whistle’ refereeing with Kent Society for ten years.

David soon became a committee man and after retiring from refereeing first team manager and subsequently was player registrar, always getting the job done, and is now Press Officer, match day reporter, and announcer. He got involved with Kent RFU in the early 1990s as a selector, pushing the case for the inclusion of talented East Kent players in the county teams, and became East Kent rep on the county committee. Until recently he was team secretary for the County Championship squad and is now a county vice-president. Speaking to David he says “One of my highlights of being involved at Canterbury was being given a national valued volunteer award by the RFU in 2017, but the real achievement and pleasure has been playing a small part, together with so many good people, in the club’s progress over the years. I have been in love with rugby ever since the ball was put in my hands as an eleven-year-old.”

Happy Birthday David x