News
Hat Trick Day at Oxford
OXFORD HARLEQUINS 29 CANTERBURY 66
by David Haigh
A commanding performance in the Oxford sunshine brought Canterbury ten tries with hat tricks for Number Eight Tyler Oliver and centre Harry Sloan. Fast, 4G pitches clearly suit the city side as this was the second time this season they have scored over sixty points on the artificial surfaces. After conceding the game’s first try they gradually flexed their muscles, upped their pace to secure a bonus point by half time, then stretched away impressively after the break. They repaired the damage of the early set back with Eoin O’Donohue given space to send Frank Morgan over for the try and Frank Reynolds knocking over the first of his eight conversions. Quins briefly added to Ben Venede’s early score with a catch and drive effort by Jim Roberts, converted by Jamie Whitwell, but that was the last time they enjoyed the lead. Canterbury went to work in expert fashion, putting the squeeze on at the set pieces, carrying hard to create breaks and rattling in three tries in a five minute spell. Oliver, twice, and Garry Jones were the scorers. Quins, lively with the ball in hand despite their defensive problems, staged a mini revival with tries from Jamie Fox and Dave Manning and a Whitwell conversion, but by the end of the half Oliver had grabbed his third from a catch and drive and O’Donoghue’s touchdown pushed the lead to 38-24. From that position a Canterbury side with the breeze at their backs were totally dominant. The second half was full of things to admire, from Reynolds’ 50/22 kick which set up position for Sloan’s first try; the great angles run by the centre for his second and third scores and the effective contribution of the bench replacements. one of whom, Tom Best, had a hand and a foot in two scores. His recognition of space and accurate kick was chased down by Charlie McGovern for the tenth try. Before that, Quins got a consolation score through Ben Bodinham, after Oliver was yellow carded, but this was a day when Canterbury’s class told.
Canterbury: A.Moss, F.Morgan. W.Waddington, H.Sloan, G.Jones, F.Reynolds, T.Williams, D.Huntley, E.O’Donoghue, O.Frostick, J.Stephens, J.De Vries, C.Thomas, T.Mackenzie, T.Oliver. Replacements: C.McGovern, D.Herriott, C.Macmillan, T.Best, W.Calder
