Author: David Haigh

CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 45 BECCEHAMIANS 7

by Dan Gill

Pilgrims had two aims: to bounce back from their first league defeat of the season against Bromley and to avenge the 63-0 humbling they suffered in the reverse of this fixture at the end of last season. It was mission accomplished. The city side were quick out of the blocks and were being directed around the park well by the experienced 10-12 axis of Will Hilton and Tom Best. They were making inroads into the visitors territory before their momentum was halted by a nasty looking ankle injury to loose forward Max McCormack which caused a lengthy delay. When play resumed Pilgrims’ asserted their set piece dominance with the pack driving Becc’s back at a scrum just inside their half to give Man of the Match Hector Valladares good front foot ball. The backs moved the ball wide with pace which created gaps in the Beccs defence which open side flank Harvey Furneaux exploited with the first of his numerous line breaks. The ball was recycled quickly and simple hands put speedster Max Campbell away for a converted score. This was quickly followed by a second try after the pack drove Beccs back at a scrum with captain Al Evans breaking off the base before new signing Charlie McGovern marked his Pilgrims debut with a deft pick up to dive over. The try was converted. Pilgrims were back on the attack from the kick off and looking to stretch the play at every opportunity. The direct running of Sonny Trew-Neville and Adrian Geddes punched holes in Beccs defence, creating space which Campbell and Harvey Young exploited at every opportunity. The visitors were always a threat on turnover ball, however, and it was they who scored next. A stray miss pass was dropped, allowing Beccs pacey winger to scoop up the loose ball and elude the covering defence. Pilgrims, with the advantage of the slope, were soon back Into their stride in the second half. Al Evans was next on the score sheet, powering over from close range after a tap penalty.  Another quickly followed as good scrum ball was moved well to the left touch line allowing wingman Geddes to touch down. Best showed his class to identify space and his deft chip over the defence was well finished by Campbell before Harvey Furneaux ended the scoring with the try of the day. Bursting through a gap he left any number of defenders in his wake to cap off a solid display The bonus point win keeps the Pilgrims at the top of Counties 1. They make the short trip to local rivals Dover next Saturday for what promises to be another keenly contested encounter.

PARK HOUSE 9 CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 15

by Dan Gill

After a two week week lay-off the Pilgrims travelled to Park House for what is never an easy fixture. The opening exchanges underlined this with Park’s significantly heavier pack looking to exert pressure at scrum time, and the Pilgrims young and pacey backline spreading the ball at every opportunity. A torrential down pour just after kick off made handling more difficult and this played into Park’s hands as they sent their heavy runners at the Canterbury line. One of the Pilgrims strengths is their defence and this was underlined early on with a number of strong tackles, notably from centre Jordan Constant. Despite this, their over eagerness led to a number of offside penalties which the very capable Park House fly half punished with three goals to build a 9-0 lead. Some stern words from skipper Al Evans and a couple of personnel changes allowed the Pilgrims to finish the half on the front foot with Tom McMann uncharacteristically missing a simple shot at goal before adding a penalty to cut the deficit to six points.
Pilgrims started the second half brightly and after some solid running from the forwards, the backs clicked into gear with slick handling in poor conditions. This opened space and after a number of quick drives by the forwards, wingman Alfie Orris burst through to score an unconverted try. Just as Canterbury were gaining some momentum, a yellow card for scrum half Hector Valladares swung the initiative back in Park’s favour. They exerted pressure at the scrums, but the Pilgrims made up for this by being tenacious in defence and having the better of the lineout exchanges – debutant hooker Aiden Demery throwing well in the wet- which kept the game finely balanced until canterbury were restored to a full complement. This brought almost instant success after winger Max Campbell, who was exceptional under the high ball all day, plucked a ball out of the sky with one hand before releasing Orris and Owain Collins and Gus Lister finished a well worked move to score by the posts. With Will Hilton adding the extras Pilgrims took the lead. They soon found themselves on the back foot once again with numerous handling errors and a yellow card for repeated infringements to debutant prop Hristo Hristov. An earlier injury meant the Pilgrims couldn’t field a competent front row so for the final nine minutes of the game scrums were uncontested and under league rules the Pilgrims had to lose another man so were reduced to thirteen. Park House themselves went down to fourteen after a high tackle but despite their best efforts, dogged defending, typified by supporters man of the Match Aiden Demery, saw Pilgrims come away with a win that keeps them at the top of Counties Kent One.
The team return to action on Friday when they welcome local rivals Deal & Betteshanger to the MTG- Kick off 7:30pm.