Barnes Wait Goes On

BARNES 34 CANTERBURY 32

by David Haigh

Barnes has been a land of lost opportunity for Canterbury in recent seasons and, once again, they missed out. Leading at half time and deep into the second half, they were beaten by a converted try five minutes from the end. Full marks to the home side for grasping that late reprieve, but Canterbury’s loss of concentration was complicit in their own downfall. A botched restart and a penalty gave Barnes the territory needed for the catch and drive try which brought the scores level. Their fly half, who had not had a great day with the boot, this time found the target to snatch the win. The city side started well, with hooker Lucas Eule finishing a driving maul and Lewis Hollidge converting. The first half then became a cagey affair with Barnes, although prone to conceding penalties, hitting back with tries from their bustling centre and a second from the fly half’s neat break and off load which was converted. By the break, however, the city side had restored their lead, Euele getting a second try, via an effective catch and drive and Hollidge’s conversion, plus a 38th minute penalty goal making it 17-12. They extended that early in the second half after Barnes collected a yellow card and were punished by a piercing run from Kurt Heatherley and clever sidesteps by Presley Farrance for a try under the posts, converted by Hollidge. Barnes responded with an unconverted touchdown, however, and building a decisive lead proved difficult. Canterbury did produce a fourth try from Max McCormack but that was countered by two from the home side, all the scores down to heavy duty forward effort. A Hollidge penalty goal going into the final ten minutes left the city side defending a slender five point advantage but that, frustratingly, proved beyond them and they had to settle for two bonus points to hold on to sixth place in National 2 East.

Canterbury: K.Heatherley, M.Campbell, H.Sloan, W.Waddington, G.Jones, L.Hollidge, P.Farrance, D.Huntley, L.Eule, O.Frostick, J.De Vries, J.Stephens, G.Trapp, R.Thomas, M.McCormack. Replacements: C.Macmillan, S.Rogers, G.Roberts, R.Burden, A.Ashley-Jones