Author: Denys Andrianjafy

ROCHFORD HUNDRED 20pts – CANTERBURY 1st XV 19pts

A late try could not save Canterbury from their third defeat in four games after a disappointing second half performance.  In a match fragmented by frequent injury stoppages they were subdued and lacking cohesion as they failed to build on their half time lead.   After an ominously slow start which saw league newcomers Rochford take the lead with a try and conversion by fly half Sam Cappaert the city side forced their way back  into the game.  The second quarter brought them two tries and by the interval they were looking slight favourites.  The first resulted from intense forward pressure and when Rochford stopped a driving maul illegally it cost them a penalty try.   Their next seven points owed everything to pace and vision as Aiden  Moss found a gap and Tom Best sent scrum half Tom Williams racing to the posts for Frank Reynolds to convert.    A third try beckoned when Moss opened up Rochford’s mean defence with a chip and chase but a cruel bounce denied him what seemed a nailed on score.  At that point Canterbury were confident and looking in control.

Why they could not carry that momentum into the last forty minutes only they will know.  Rochford looked the hungrier outfit, dominated territory for long periods but at least Canterbury showed plenty of defensive grit. It was a surprise when the home side cracked them from a first phase move which ended in an unvconverted try for Jordan Spivey.   An uninspiring and error prone Canterbury then surrendered the lead to a Cappaert penalty goal  and Rochford extended it to six points with an opportunist try from George Griffiths. There seemed little danger when Mark Billings kick reached half way but the ball broke for the home side and the wingman found himself with a clear run to the corner. When Canterbury did find a couple of attacking positions they were lost through lineout wobbles but they roused themselves in a desperate late surge.  A driving maul try from Tyler Oliver left Reynolds with a hugely difficult kick to win the match. It missed by a whisker but Canterbury will know it was their own shortcoming which really hurt their chances.

CANTERBURY 29pts  WORTHING 24pts

Canterbury have lift off.  This bonus point victory over a previously unbeaten Worthing could not have been better timed as rugby returned to the Marine travel Ground for the first time in eighteen months.

To register their first league points of the season the city club had to hold their nerve as Raiders dominated second-half territory and mounted a ferocious late assault. But outstanding defence kept them at bay and that as much as their four tries earned Canterbury this success. Having established a nine-point lead by half time they then had to overcome a mental barrier. In their two previous defeats they have thrown a similar advantage away. This time they cut out the errors and produced a score at a critical time.

The catalyst for that first-half lead was wing Sam Sterling who scored two of Canterbury’s three tries and had a substantial role in the other.   His first came after heavy forward pressure opened the way to an overlap, converted from wide out by Frank Reynolds who put behind him two earlier penalty misses.  That was after fifteen minutes but Raiders soon cut the deficit when the impressive Nathan Jibulu, a Harlequins Academy player, finished powerfully. Although he was wearing a wingman’s shirt, however, Sterling roamed everywhere and it was his break that paved the way for flanker Alex Evans to touch down.

Once again the score was pegged back as Raiders made space for a Jerome Rudder try but in the final minute of the half Sterling struck again.  Charging down a kick, he scooped up the ball and outran the chasers to leave Reynolds an easy conversion.  That 19-10 lead looked pretty fragile as Raiders mounted a second-half offensive but finding a way through was another matter.  Canterbury resisted countless line out drives, stifled the Raiders backs but eventually succumbed to Henry Birch’s try which Matt McLean converted.

The city side gathered themselves and broke out to produce a critical score. Fly half Reynolds threaded a kick behind the raiders defence and Tom Best was first to the ball as it bounced under the posts.  Reynolds topped up the try and went on to add a late penalty goal.  Worthing were always in this match and they set nerves jangling in the last five minutes with Cam Dobinson’s converted try.  It was not quite enough thanks to Canterbury’s marvellous defenders.

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Images subject to copyright – Phillipa Hilton

OLD ALBANIAN 29  CANTERBURY 21

Canterbury are still without a league point as they slipped to a second narrow defeat which leaves them in the depths of the National 2 South table.   Once again it was a case of what might have been in a performance that was good at times but spoiled by their own carelessness.

Twice the city club took the lead with well-worked tries; twice they allowed Albanians to claim the restarts and swiftly rub out the advantage with scores of their own.  Those basic failures and missed opportunities in the second half were to prove fatal. It was frustrating because Canterbury were always in the hunt once the game opened up after a nondescript first twenty minutes in which the home side dominated territory.  Dan Watt kicked them into the lead with a penalty goal but Canterbury’s first real pressure brought a clever, sniping try from scrum half Tom Williams which Frank Reynolds converted. The joy of that lasted under two minutes. At the restart Albanian wing Alex Ricci claimed the ball almost unchallenged, sprinted away to score and Watt’s conversion made the error more painful.

With both sides willing to run the ball the action was easy on the eye compared with the kick fests we have seen at higher levels and by half time Canterbury had reclaimed the lead. A yellow card for Ricci was quickly punished as full back Kyan Braithwaite rounded off a sweeping attack and Reynolds increased the margin to four points. Albanian backs got into their stride eight minutes into the second half, slick hands bringing a powerful finish by Tom Mills, with Watt again converting, but Canterbury found a different route to success.  A driving maul broke Albanians with Tristan King claiming the try and Reynolds adding a third conversion. It could have been a vital score. Instead, that second failure of the basics and lessons unlearned saw Albanians grab the restart, march downfield where Morgan Thompson hammered his way over the line.  Watt made the kick good and with ten minutes left on the clock Canterbury’s hopes took a dive when Tyler Oliver was yellow carded.  The home side went for the kill and it duly came with a bonus point try for back rower Ben Charnock.

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Images subject to copyright – Phillipa Hilton

BURY ST EDMUNDS 30 CANTERBURY 22

By Andy Rogers

Given an unprecedented and enforced delay of eighteen months it was of huge credit to both sides that they served up a thoroughly entertaining National 2 South game. The disappointment for Canterbury was finishing on the wrong end of the scoreline after leading at halftime.

In the end it was defensive failures that undid that earlier good work. Despite conceding a first-minute try Canterbury came back to score three of their own before the break. The first saw a steal on the Bury 22 metre line allow Number Eight Tyler Oliver to juggle the ball and touch down.Next was the turn of impressive tight head prop Danny Herriott, in his first start for the club, who took advantage of a dominant line out and burrowed over from close range. It was left to young scrum half Tom Williams – who may have been many peoples man of the match – to score the best try of the game.

Another line out win saw Williams dummy at the base before drifting through the Bury defence to dab down untouched under the posts. Bury replied with a penalty from their ever reliable full back Charlie Reed but with another Canterbury debutant – fly half Frank Reynolds – landing two conversions – and astutely kicking for position when called upon, the city club seemed well set to consolidate their 19-10 half time lead. Bury had other ideas. Directly from the restart, Canterbury’s lack of defensive nous out wide gave Bury winger Mick Stanaway a simple try. Reed converting again. To their credit the young Canterbury side responded positively, moving the ball wide and forcing the home side into some desperate defence. But when a fourth try seemed odds on Bury wing Levi Roper intercepted to run the length of the pitch before putting skipper Matt Bursey in under the posts. That score proved critical because at 27-19 Canterbury were now chasing the game. Reynolds did reply with another penalty but with Bury’s Reed adding three points to complete a perfect kicking performance it was enough to seal the result. Still there were positives for the coaches to work on. The line out and set scrums were impressive. The new half back partnership of Reynolds and Williams looks promising. Lock Jesse De Vries knows how to put in a shift and skipper Jamie Stephens never took a step backwards.

It is the defensive shape in the wide areas that needs immediate attention.

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Images subject to copyright – Phillipa Hilton