Champion spirit sees Pilgrims finish season with win

Pilgrims welcomed Crowborough to the MTG for their final game of the season having secured a third successive league title last time out against Heathfield & Waldron. Crowborough are always a tough nut to crack and they showed they meant business when slick handling saw them register the afternoon’s first score with a try out wide which meant a difficult conversion was missed. The Pilgrims were struggling to get going and found themselves a further score down after a series of penalties gave the visitors good field position and their strong running forwards crashed over for a second unconverted score. Canterbury finally clicked into gear,  began stringing some phases together and after a series of direct drives, space opened up for Owain Collins to accelerate through a gap and score and then add the extras. Crowborough showed their class with a well worked response  as they exploited missed tackles and ill discipline and added two further scores to secure a bonus point and open up a 22-7  half time lead.  After some stern words from departing coach (and player for the day) Jon ‘Foz’ Foster, the Pilgrims, spurred on by the home support, produced an excellent second half display that saw them score 31 unanswered points  to ensure their two season long unbeaten home record remained intact.  Aidan Demery was picked out well by returning fly half Tom McMann after some excellent running by Guy Hilton in his last appearance before moving to sunnier climbs, for the first of his two tries  Al Evans crashed over to secure the bonus point. An excellent run by Sonny Trew-Neville looked to be stopped short but he managed to get the ball down in heavy traffic to make it 31-22.  In the dying moments Foster thought he’d scored with a pick and go from close range, only for the referee to bring play back for an infringement. From the resulting penalty Isaac Divine was driven over for Pilgrims sixth try to put the gloss on a fine comeback. Foster, fittingly, stepped up to add the conversion and complete the victory.

Pilgrims: Everatt, Demery, Morris, Hunt, McCormack, Rothery, Divine, Evans, Valladares, McMann, Geddes, T Halliday, Collins, Trew-Neville, G Hilton, Gill, Lister, Foster.