Author: David Haigh

OUNDLE 31 CANTERBURY 24

by David Haigh

The last play of the game decided this tight, physical National 2 East contest with the Oundle pack snatching victory through a catch and drive try. It was a frustrating moment for a Canterbury side who surrendered a half time lead but fought back to draw level with seven minutes of the match remaining. As in their previous outing, a home loss to Bury St Edmunds, they established a fourteen point lead in the first half hour but, once again., were unable to make the most of the good work. Ultimately, it was the ability of the home forwards to turn entries into the 22 area into scores that proved the difference. Three of Oundle’s tries came via that catch, drive and mauling route while Canterbury, despite having similar opportunities, could only crack it once. The two excellent tries they scored in the first half belonged to the backs, with fly half Frank Reynolds playing a role in both. Wing Adrian Geddes won the race for his slide kick behind the defence for the first. Five minutes later Reynolds launched a counter attack from his own half, chipping into space before releasing Garry Jones, and with support arriving swiftly Aiden Moss finished behind the posts. Reynold converted both. A shaken Oundle now began to flex their muscles and when a penalty gave them a sniff of the line they mauled Grant Snelling over. That was quickly backed up with a break from their own territory which created a try for James Fear and two conversions from Ben Young brought them level. In the final minute of the half Reynolds stepped up to kick a penalty goal for the city side but once the action resumed the slender three point lead did not last. Oundle found space out wide for wing Tevita Va’enuku to put them ahead and in the 66th minute Snelling made his second touchdown from another effective catch and drive. A yellow card for the home side gave Canterbury their chance of a reply; this time they got their lineout and driving maul working and with Reynolds adding the goal points to Eoin O’Donoghue’s try it was all square and all to play for. But it was Oundle who applied the late pressure and Henry Frost’s score, converted by Young, left the city men with only a single bonus point to take home.

Canterbury: P.Farrance, A.Geddes, L.Talbot, A.Moss, G.Jones, F.Reynolds, T.Williams, D.Huntley, E.O’Donoghue, C.Macmillan, H.Kenny, J.Stephens, J.Walker, R.Thomas, T.Oliver. Replacements: M.Timmerman, C.McGovern, J.Dengate, O.Hewett, O.Collins

MATCH PREVIEW

I can’t remember a time when we have scored six tries and still lost a game. Our attack, which has been a recent focus, has truly come back to life — with the team scoring eleven tries across the last two fixtures. The disappointment, however, lies in conceding forty-three points at home when Bury visited us two weeks ago.
The main causes of our downfall were our discipline and execution. It’s very difficult to win a match when you concede twenty-three penalties and we too often surrendered possession in key areas, which Bury capitalised on. The frustration is heightened by the fact that we started so strongly and went into half-time leading by ten points — having played up the hill. Not my favourite Saturday.
The week’s rest came at a good time and it’s been refreshing to see the players return with renewed energy to what were tired bodies. The only way to exorcise the demons of our last performance is to travel to Oundle and deliver a very different account of ourselves.
Although this is Oundle’s first season in National 2 we are by no means underestimating them. They have a squad full of experience and have made a strong start to the campaign. Our focus is firmly on getting back to our best and ensuring we come off the pitch feeling very different from our last outing.
The Pilgrims registered their second consecutive win of the season, taking all five points away to Old Reigatians. Another strong performance saw them secure the bonus point before half-time, lifting the team to tenth in the table — importantly, outside the relegation zone.
The next few weeks bring some tough challenges for the Pilgrims. First up tomorrow, sixth-place Old Colfeians visit the Marine Travel Ground followed by a trip to second-place Sidcup and then third-place Sutton & Epsom back at home.
We’re hopeful that, in the coming weeks, a number of players will be returning from injury to strengthen the squad. I’m looking forward to seeing the added competition that will bring across both teams.

MATT CORKER, HEAD COACH

CANTERBURY 40 BURY ST EDMUNDS 43

by David Haigh

A dominant visiting pack, poor discipline and questionable choices all contributed to this narrow Canterbury defeat, their first home loss of the National 2 East season. They made a flying start, with two tries in the first six minutes, reached half time nine points ahead, but were unraveled by two quick Bury tries at the start of the second half. So what went wrong? Three yellow cards, all for technical offences, did them no good – three of Bury’s six tries were scored while players were in the sin bin. Of equal concern will be the team’s performance at the set scrums and in the breakdown areas where they were second best. The quick fire opening brought tries for Harvey Furneaux and Henry Kenny, both converted by Frank Reynolds. A Bury handling error, a kick ahead and a long chase saw Furneaux score. For the second, lovely handling sent Garry Jones clear before his kick was collected by an unchallenged Henry Kenny, but is was Kenny who was first to see yellow. Bury capitalised on the extra man with a catch and drive touchdown from hooker Ollie Walliker and Ben Penfold landed the first of his five conversions. One of too many turnovers lead to wing Andy Denham cutting into the Canterbury lead again with an unconverted try. There was a swift reply, the excellent Jones making the running for Tom Williams’ converted score, before another yellow, this time for Presley Farrance, gave Bury the chance to put Tom Hoppe across the line. On the cusp of half time Canterbury turned a penalty award into a converted try for Eoin O’Donoghue and the lead looked secure, but in the first session of the new half Bury turned the game on its head. In the opening minute a turnover won possession to set up centre Hoppe’s second try and a Penfold penalty goal gave them the lead. On 52 minutes Matt Hema snapped up his side’s fifth score from a poor kicking decision in dangerous territory. At the start of the final quarter, the city side regrouped and a Jamie Stephens close quarter try, converted by Reynolds, brought them back into contention at 35-36. However, an under pressure scrum leaked penalties, front foot ball was sparse, prop Lewis Young joined the sin binners and Hema’s second try followed shortly. Canterbury did find some late momentum but a Jones touchdown was not enough to ease the disappointment, only partly relieved by two bonus points.

Canterbury: P.Farrance, G.Jones, L.Talbot, W.Waddington, H.Furneaux, F.Reynolds, T.Williams, D.Huntley, E.O’Donoghue, O.Frostick, H.Kenny, J.Stephens, C.McGovern, R.Thomas, T.Oliver. Replacements: T.Mackenzie, L.Young, J.Dengate, J.Walker, A.Geddes

MATCH PREVIEW

Key moments define big games. Fifteen minutes into the second half, we had an attacking lineout in Old Albanians’ twenty-two. One of our best stats from Saturday was that every lineout completed in the OA’s twenty-two ended with us scoring points. This particular lineout, however, wasn’t completed due to a slow lift, resulting in an overthrow. Four missed tackles later OA’s won a scrum on our five-metre line. We then lost a man to a yellow card and conceded a try, giving OA’s a nineteen-point lead. Had we completed the lineout and continued our success in the OA’s red zone, the score could have been 29–24 — a very different game.

The players gave us plenty to be proud of. Thirty-one points is the most that OA’s have conceded this season and scoring five tries away from home against the league leaders is an achievement. But we’re not interested in being plucky losers. We gave a good team too many opportunities and our lineout malfunctioned several times in try-scoring positions. The margins are much finer in games like this, so we know that to come away with a win, we have to be more ruthless.

The Pilgrims, on the other hand, registered their first win of the season with a well-earned 26–17 victory over Dartfordians. They scored a superb try with five minutes to go following an Owain Collins offload and a strong finish from Gus Lister. That put them in front, and a penalty in the final minute sealed the win — also denying Dartfordians any league points.

This win was all the more important as Darfordians still sit one place, and one point, above the Pilgrims after this result. This Saturday we follow up with another important game as the the travel to Old Reigatians who sit bottom of the table. A result tomorrow could see them jump up to nineth in the table if other results go their way.

The 1st XV welcome Bury St Edmunds to the Marine Travel Ground tomorrow in an equally important fixture. Bury also have four wins this season but sit ahead of us thanks to five extra bonus points.

Our improvements in attack are exactly what we’ve been aiming for and we’re seeing real progress. The focus now is on ensuring our defence is relentless and disciplined so we can head into the week off with a win.

MATT CORKER, HEAD COACH

MATCH PREVIEW

We put a lot of energy last week into getting our attack back to a place where we are proud of it. Scoring 56 points was exactly the reaction that I wanted to see. I thought the players returned to attacking with multiple threats and moving the ball in a positive way that asked more questions of Havant than they had answers for. Charlie McGovern, Tyler Oliver and Harvey Furneaux all scored a brace and Frank Reynolds was perfect off the tee, converting eight out of eight. The only slight disappointment was allowing Havant to leave with a bonus point, but we didn’t deal with their attacking maul well enough to deny them one. Still a very good Saturday with smiles all round.

The Pilgrims came breathtakingly close to registering their first win of the season away at Bromley. They were leading going into the final quarter, but penalties and a failure to execute in the closing stages meant that the game slipped away as they lost 38-30. Despite the result, there were so many pleasing improvements in their performance, setting up this week’s fixture nicely as we welcome Dartfordians to the Marine Travel Ground tomorrow.

If the Pilgrims continue their week-on-week improvements we know the results will come. Dartfordians sit just one place ahead in the table, so this weekend’s result could prove very important come the end of the season.

Meanwhile, the 1st XV travel to face Old Albanians, who currently sit top of National 2 East. They’ve been the in-form team in the league since January and we’re excited by the challenge they pose. Testing ourselves against the best is how we find out where we truly are only our best will be good enough, and our best it will have to be.

MATT CORKER, HEAD COACH

CANTERBURY 56 HAVANT 26

by David Haigh

A commanding first half show from Canterbury, which saw them run in five tries, set up this decisive bonus point victory. It left Havant looking for consolation prizes, a late score earning them a valuable point, but for much of this National 2 East clash they were distinctly second best. The city side were positive from the off, putting width on their game at every opportunity, but it was a hard carrying pack that made the first breach and ended up doing most of the scoring. The visitors held out for nine minutes before Tyler Oliver powered through the tackles to make the first touchdown and the pattern was set. Canterbury took in their stride a yellow card for Presley Farrance, showing defensive nous and grabbing a second try as Ryley Thomas profited from Charlie McGovern’ s neat offload. The visitors were then plunged into real trouble by two further tries only two minutes apart. There was a second for Oliver and one for McGovern, after Jamie Stephens break had punched yet another hole in Havant’s defences. With Frank Reynolds perfect conversion rate the Hampshire side were vanishing in the rear view mirror and before half time the backs joined in the spree. Wing Harvey Furneaux won the chase for Reynolds slide kick but Havant finally mounted a reply through a catch and drive try from Archie Cleave, converted by Joel Knight. However, at 35-7 the game had gone away from them and eleven minutes into the second half McGovern got his second try, following a break by Eoin O’Donoghue. Havant pulled one back through Scott Thomson, converted by Jacob Knight, but at the hour mark prop Lewis Young finished some heavy pounding of the visitors line with Canterbury’s seventh try. Injuries forced a reshuffle in the city ranks so when Furneaux made the final touchdown in the75th minute he was operating as an emergency flanker. Canterbury’s adventurous approach did carry risks and errors in the closing five minutes allowed Havant the benefit of a bonus point. That came from two catch and drive tries for Sean Shepherd , one converted by Jacob Knight, but it was a small light at the end of a rather long tunnel.

Canterbury: P.Farrance, G.Jones, L.Talbot, W.Waddington, H.Furneaux, F.Reynolds, T.Williams, D.Huntley, E.O’Donoghue, O.Frostick, C.McGovern, J.Stephens, J.Walker, R.Thomas, T.Oliver. Replacements: T.Barton, O.Hewett, L.Young, J.Dengate, H.Kenny