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SATURDAY PREVIEW

Jamie Stephens was spot on with his summary in our huddle after last Saturday’s game. His immediate review was that it wasn’t our best performance, but it was still a five-point win and we’ve maintained our momentum heading into this week. Any win against an experienced National League side, as Henley are, is still an achievement.
My personal disappointment was that our two previous performances, both away from home, had been of such a high calibre that I wanted us to bring that level back and showcase it on our own pitch, in front of our amazing supporters.
From my perspective, the main reason we fell short of this was our inability to convert when we were in Henley’s 22. This has been a real strength for us in recent games, but on Saturday, we wasted opportunities that could have made the score line look very different. The upside is that it has given us some very clear areas to work on in training this week, and I’m looking forward to seeing the players take another step forward as we head into what is always an intense fixture away at Westcombe Park.

It’s funny how things work out, but we go into this weekend in an identical position to this time last season, with six wins behind us. Last year, it was away at Westcombe Park where our winning run came to an end. We know exactly what it will take to get a result against a ‘Combe side who concede very few points at home and know all too well how to win on their own pitch. It’s going to be a big Saturday.

The Pilgrims started the year with a bang, beating table-topping Brighton away from home. It was only the third defeat of the season for the league leaders and, after a strong first-half performance, the Pilgrims took control and stayed out in front. Bromley visit the Marine Travel Ground this weekend and the reverse fixture was a closely fought contest, with Bromley scoring late on to seal the win. The Pilgrims are focused on backing up last week’s strong performance, but they know they’ll need to deliver the same level again if they are to get the result they want.

MATT CORKER, HEAD COACH

Pilgrims 24

Brighton 17

The Pilgrims travelled to Sussex to take on league leaders Brighton keen to improve on their poor showing at Gravesend before Christmas and avenge a heavey Home defeat at the MTG earlier in the season.
After a lengthy delay on the M2 the Pilgrims arrived 50 minutes before kick off which disrupted Coach Mal Graves’ warm up plans.
Brighton showed exactly why they are league leaders as they got the games opening score within minutes of the kick off as they showed slick handling to move the ball wide to score and take a 5-0 lead.
The Pilgrims regrouped under the posts and after a quick chat to tweak the game plan, produced arguably their best 30 minutes of rugby this season. The forwards were carrying with intent and the direct running and offloading of the backs asked Brighton questions they simply didn’t have the answers to. The first of 3 scores came when Fin Mason-Myers sensed an opening and darted through a gap at the side of a ruck and was able to out pace the covering defence to take the score to 5-7.
Great interplay from the pilgrims forwards and backs got in behind the Brighton defence with Orris’ sublime offload sending Hewitt clear-Brightons pacey back 3 got back to make the tackle but there was no one defending the back field when Mason-Myers kicked in behind- he out paced the defence to regather and score his 2nd and take the score to 5-14.
Pilgrims then added a penalty to make it 5-17 after a high tackle from Brighton presented a simple opportunity for 3 points which Hewitt slotted. Orris then showed his class by going on a powerful run that saw him beat a number of defenders after good work from Morgan and Collins. When he was finally brought down it was Mason-Myers on hand in support to race through and score his 3rd taking the score to 5-24.
On the stroke of Half time, Brighton reminded the pilgrims of their own threat when they skilfully moved the ball wide before a good running line from the number 8 saw him run through untouched to score 12-24.
The second half became a scrappy affair with the Pilgrims aggressive defence frustrating Brighton and an element of niggle entered the game. Brighton were first to fall foul of the referee’s ire when they received a yellow card for a high tackle before pilgrims Isaac Devine received a 10 minute rest for allegedly tackling a player after the whistle. It was during this period that Brighton scored the only points of the 2nd half, utilising their numerical advantage to score out wide to take the score to 17-24.
Pilgrims had chances of their own, notably following strong runs from de Vries and wing Mitch Fielder, and the decision to turn down an easy 3 points in favour of a pick and go that was turned over showed the young pilgrims side still have much to learn, but a first half attacking masterclass followed by and outstanding second half defensive effort ensured the pilgrims defeated current league leaders Brighton.

Team: C. Oliver, Bull, Gill, Nicholson, de Vries, Hunt, Devine, McCormack, Mason-Myers, Collins, Fielder, Morgan, Orris, English, Hewitt, Kubicki, Masaka, Ingram.

Canterbury Women 29–7 Aylesford Bulls

Canterbury Women returned to league action with a strong 29–7 away victory over Aylesford Bulls, in a match that showcased resilience, togetherness and real intent for the season ahead.

Icy conditions in the build-up meant there were initial concerns over whether the pitch would be fit to play. Following a full assessment with the referee, kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes to allow both sides a complete and safe warm-up, ensuring player welfare remained the priority.

Before the match got underway, both teams came together for a minute’s silence in memory of Caz Olwa, an Aylesford alumna. A fitting and respectful moment that set the tone for the afternoon.

Once play began, Canterbury delivered a persistent defensive effort against an Aylesford side boasting some strong ball carriers. The defensive work rate was outstanding, with players supporting one another through well-timed double tackles, quick arrivals at the ruck and constant readiness for the offload.

This true team performance was complemented by some impressive individual displays. Layla, Robyn, Alexia and El all stood out with their contributions across the park, while Mary consistently made huge metres with powerful carries that put Canterbury on the front foot.

The points were shared across the side. El Crowe (#8) led the way with a well-earned hat-trick. Robyn Gulley (#20) marked her Canterbury debut with a try, while Kate Rutherford (#10) added a try of her own and calmly slotted two conversions to round off the scoring.

Aylesford deserve credit for their dominance at the scrum, providing a solid platform throughout the game. However, Canterbury’s quick thinking and fast ball in open play repeatedly caught the Bulls on the back foot, allowing momentum to build and pressure to be sustained.

Recognition for individual excellence saw Forward of the Match awarded to Alexia Scarpulla (#6) for her tireless work rate and physical presence. Back of the Match went to Robyn Gulley (#20) following an outstanding debut performance.

More than anything, the performance truly looked like a group playing for the people to their left and right. There was clear enjoyment in being back on the pitch, a hunger to prove why each player deserves their shirt, and a collective belief in what this team can achieve.

Canterbury Women are next in action on Sunday 28 January, as they return home to face Medway. The squad would love to see as much support as possible for the women’s side, and everyone is encouraged to come along and be part of the occasion.

The Canons began 2026 with a bang, beating Dartford Valley 72-3 at the MTG in their Counties 3 Kent clash.

As the second half of the season starts, the fixture was the first of 6 that the Canons sought to avenge following a close loss against Dartford in the reverse fixture earlier in the season.

The intent was clear from the start, with Joel Poulter finding space in a first phase play in the opening minute to put the Canons on the board with the first of their 12 tries of the afternoon.  The game settled and following some resolute defence from the Canons after ill-discipline gave Dartford field position, a quick break was by a try from Ollie Jeffery, before Poulter grabbed the teams third.  The Canons began to dominate and within the opening 22 minutes, the Canons has scored the bonus point try through Will Rayner.  A flying Terrell Thomas scored the teams fifth try of the half to put the Canons 29-3 up at half time.

As the second half began, quick starting Poulter grabbed his hattrick after a marauding run from the kick off.  As injuries started to hit a depleted Dartford Valley, Canterbury scored a further 6 tries, through Poulter (x2), Jake Forrest, Rayner (x2) and Ed Reid.  5 tried from Poulter and 3 from Rayner ticked off a successful afternoon for the centre partnership, who’s strength and footwork found gaps all afternoon long.

The Canons have a break week before welcoming undefeated league leaders Sittingbourne to the MTG on 24^th January, in what is expected to be a physical and exciting fixture following the teams’ meeting earlier in the season.

Match Report. 04.10.25

Lordswood 2^nd v Canterbury 5th

Canterbury 5th 34pts.  Lordswood 2^nd  19pts.

By John Scurr

The Zingari away to Lordswood 2nds with a much-depleted side due to player unavailability did not stop them   giving one of their best performances of the season. Although it took some time for the city side to settle conceding an early try after Lordswood broke from a ruck virtually unopposed to go under the posts for an early converted try. This was followed fifteen minutes later with Lordswood’s powerful centres breaking through for another converted try that began to make things look ominous for the city side. The Zingari however were becoming more confident and had adapted to playing in some unorthodox positions went on the offensive with a series of swift handling attacks that first put Dillon Coyle through a gap for the city’s first converted try. This was followed a few minutes later with a break on the right for Rob Horan to touch down in the corner reducing the deficit to just two points. The momentum was beginning to turn and Canterbury were going to make the most of it with another move finished off out wide to sneak ahead with a slim three-point lead. As the game went into the last few minutes of the half Canterbury mounted their best attack of the afternoon working the ball within the Lordswood twenty-two before Tony Carollo angled run from deep to split the defence to score under the posts, and with the following conversion the Zingari had established a ten-point lead.

The second half saw the Lordswood powerful backs  and using what little slope there was on the pitch to career their way down field touching down in the corner reducing the city lead. This was their obvious intension only to be met with resolute tackling often stopping the attack on or behind the gain line forcing the speculative kick down field often returned with interest with some elusive running. This pattern pertained for most of the half with Lordswood  having little success  against this solid tackle wall before being caught behind with a thumping tackle that led to a turnover ball scooped up and fed to James Read who forced his way through a scattered defence to go over near the posts, and give Rob Horan the simple conversion. Lordswood  came back but again were caught behind their gain line just outside their twenty-two and infringed in an attempt to retain the ball, at this point the Canterbury skipper stepped in to calm things down indicating for the posts for Horan to seal the match with a well struck penalty much to the relief of his exhausted forwards who had given everything.

CANTERBURY 28 HENLEY HAWKS 21

by David Haigh

There is no such thing as a free lunch this season in National 2 East and Canterbury were made to work hard for a sixth straight victory. In a game which had plenty of industry, but would have brought frowns to a quality control department, they nevertheless scored four tries, claimed maximum points and move up to fourth spot in the league. Against a Hawks side occupying a chair at the lower end of the table, there was little of the city club’s pre-Christmas fluency on display and it was the visitors who were pressing hard for the draw in the final stages. Canterbury made a bright start, with a try after three minutes, as Henley conceded a penalty and Tyler Oliver touched down from a catch and drive. Frank Reynolds converted and, like his Hawks counterpart Max Titchener, went on to add goal points to all the tries. Titchener started by converting an equalising score after 13 minutes when hooker Spencer Hayhow plunged over from a maul, but the game settled into a shapeless affair for the rest of the half. Individual lapses, messy lineout work from both sides were too frequent but Canterbury reached the break seven points in front. That was down to powerful finishing by centre Harry Sloan after a patient build up from the pack, but they missed out on two other occasions while Hawk’s Zack Taylor was in the sin bin. Luke Talbot was held up over the line and then good, scrambling defence forced an error in the same corner. The start of the second half was a repeat of the first, with Canterbury grabbing an early try from flanker Ryley Thomas after Hawks wing Oscar Busby was yellow carded, but sparking a swift reply from Henley. The city side infringed and from the penalty
Hawks worked a try for centre James Leach. At the start of the last quarter the city side found some cohesion, pinned Henley on their own line and scrum half Presley Farrance completed a series of pick and go’s to open a fourteen point gap. However, it was the visitors who took the late initiative and, when Oliver was sin binned, Hayhow struck on 67 minutes with his second try from a catch and drive. Canterbury hung on precariously, but Henley’s serious pursuit of more than a losing bonus point was frustrated in the last play of the game. A penalty award opened the way to a prime attacking position: however, skilful work from Reynolds prevented Titchener’s kick from going into touch and you had to feel that had saved the day.

Canterbury: K.Heatherley, G.Jones, H.Sloan, W.Waddington, L.Talbot, F.Reynolds, P.Farrance, D. Huntley, E.O’Donoghue, O.Frostick, C.McGovern, J.Stephens, T.McKenzie, R.Thomas, T.Oliver. Replacements: C.Macmillan, J.Walker, J.Dengate, A.Moss, T.Williams

Deacons dominate in every way (except the scoreline)…..

It’s tricky to write an objective match report given the final score.
Regular readers will know how thrilled we were to assist our last opponents with a few players in order to have a balanced game of rugby. Our players are a real credit to our club and we want to represent true rugby values. Seemingly it’s not for every club in our league.

With a large proportion of our regular team playing with us while they are at Uni in Canterbury, fixtures close to the holidays are often hard to get players for. So 14 of us travelled to Folkestone buoyed by our last result and the excitement of getting out for a last game before Christmas.

Really surprisingly the opposition Capt decided he wouldn’t match our numbers from his 19+ strong squad & we began the game a man short against a reasonably competent Folkestone side. I can only assume he got a parking ticket in Canterbury some years ago, or he doesn’t enjoy the Christmas market or the traffic around the city. Either way, we Deacons went to work, slightly disgruntled but no less energised.

Folkestone drew 1st, 2nd and 3rd blood. Come to think of it. They didn’t stop scoring. All of them around the fringes. Our defence was strong and well organised and all Folkestone could do was use the extra man (the same extra man) to put tries in down the wing.
Fortunately the opposition kicker couldn’t hit a fat lad in an alleyway so the extra points weren’t going on.

As we tend too, we got across the line. Working a try through grit and determination the forwards carrying really well, our 9, Sam Roud hitting breakdowns quickly and moving the ball to Dan Head at 10 who is always reliably excellent. The backs worked phenomenally hard to cover the space when needed against some fast opponents.
Captain American & Rob Horan at 13 & 12 respectively made some huge runs to release Ed & Dylan on the wing while Matt Capper at full back had his work cut out covering all that space in defence.

The pack was no different.
Having lost a man earlier in the day (sending all our best to James) we had no choice but to change tac and operate as a 7 with Hayden Prett attacking from 8 or defending at 7 depending on who had the feed at scrum time.

Our forwards were unmatched. Contesting scrum after scrum, dominant winning balls against the head and securing our own. The home team cycled through a couple of hookers and sent some replacement props in across the course of the game, yet nothing prevented the display of power and aggression coming through the City pack.

Remarkably, when we lost young talent Callum Townshend to injury we were forced to scrimmage 6 vs 8. We thought it might be a tall order, but – channeling the Deacons spirit and pride we dominated the Stones scrum pushing them back over 10 metres.
That was the catalyst for 10 minutes of the best performance the Deacons have put in all season. With our mate on the sidelines cheering us on every player on the pitch threw everything at it to show we were down but not beaten.

Ethan Tighe, Craig, Riggsy, and Brad were instrumental in setting pods and carrying hard to move through phases so Dan & the backs could move the ball across the pitch side to side.

An unlucky bounce stopped a hard charging attack and our day was done.

13 v 15 is always going to be tough. The opposition rolling subs makes it harder. I’ve no doubt who won the game despite the points. Canterbury were better in every way, never complaining & never letting the bias affect our rugby. We look forward to welcoming the oppo to Canterbury next year!

Watch the second part of the season. With performances as we’ve seen the last few games it’s going to be exciting. There’s a great feeling around this team, the steps we are making and the cohesion we’ve gained lately.

Thank you gents for the game. For the pride you have in yourselves & our team.
Merry Christmas & I’ll see you in 2026!

SEVENOAKS 17 CANTERBURY 39

by David Haigh

A confident Canterbury continued their march up the league table with a fifth straight victory which was as clear cut as the scoreline suggests. They go into the New Year sitting in fifth place in National 2 East after dominating this Kent derby in all areas. A potentially tricky fixture on paper proved to be a different story on grass, with the city side’s five tries earning them maximum points and denying ‘Oaks a single Christmas gift. They set the tone in the first half, building a 19-3 lead and, when under pressure, defending so well the home side could make no impression. Ben Adams kicked Sevenoaks into an early lead with a penalty goal but it was soon surrendered to a penalty try for illegally puling down Canterbury’s driving maul. That cost them seven points and a yellow card which was punished further by a second Canterbury try. Scrum half Presley Farrance, who knows a gap when he sees one, was the scorer. In the second quarter, the hosts worked hard to win territory but failed repeatedly to tear down the defensive curtain and four minutes before the break, were shown the way by Canterbury’s mobile lock Charlie McGovern. His chip, chase and try between the sticks was converted by Frank Reynolds. Early in the second half the city forwards mastery of the breakdown saw Reynolds add another three points from a penalty and when ‘Oaks finally did find a try it just spurred a clinical response. After Zak Jones’ score, converted by Adams, it took Canterbury only three minutes to strike again. Wing Garry Jones blasted through midfield to bring finishing power and Reynolds quickly followed the conversion with his second penalty goal. For an out played Oaks, 22 points behind, there was no way back, despite Cam Cummings creating a neat, converted try with his kick and chase. But the last word went to Garry Jones as Canterbury moved the ball sweetly through the hands to send him over at the corner. Reynolds then topped off the team’s impressive afternoon with a successful conversion.

Canterbury: K.Heatherley, G.Jones, H.Sloan, W.Waddington, L.Talbot, F.Reynolds, P.Farrance, D.Huntley, E.O’Donoghue, O.Frostick, C.McGovern, J.Stephens, J.De Vries, R.Thomas, T.Oliver. Replacements: C.Macmillan, T.Williams, J.Dengate, O.Hewett, T.McKenzie

MATCH PREVIEW

In my time at the club, we have never won away at Esher, and don’t be fooled by their current league position. They are still a strong side that has suffered a bad run of injuries — something we can certainly empathise with. The difference in this group in recent weeks is that, no matter what happens, they remain composed, stick to our plan, and win the physicality battle. Going 14–0 down in just over five minutes would rattle some teams, but the players showed how much they have grown, closing the gap almost immediately before delivering a ruthless second-half performance. Getting better every week is our sole focus, and the players continue to deliver improvements across all areas of our game.
The Pilgrims recorded another excellent home victory, scoring the winning try with a minute to go despite receiving an early red card and being reduced to 12 men at one point. They have now won five of their last seven matches, lifting them to eighth in the table. It is gritty performances like last Saturday’s that have been at the heart of the recent change in results. In a tightly contested Regional 2 South East, only ten points separate 11th and 4th, so we know we must continue to pick up results to remain in this part of the table. The Pilgrims travel to Gravesend for their final game of 2025, looking to maintain their current trajectory.
The 1st XV travel to Sevenoaks for our Christmas derby, which is always a fiercely competitive fixture. The players are well aware of what it will take and are fully focused on finishing the year on a high.
As this is the final fixture of 2025, it is also a good time to reflect on the past 12 months. Looking across the men’s teams, it feels like everything is moving in the right direction. The Canons and the Pilgrims are both adjusting well to their new leagues, and the first team has built momentum with the opportunity to finish the year on a winning run. None of this would be possible without the unrelenting support we receive from the club’s sponsors, volunteers, and supporters. From myself and all the teams, we are incredibly grateful to you all. I hope you are able to enjoy a very Merry Christmas, and I look forward to seeing you in the New Year.

MATT CORKER, HEAD COACH