Match Report: Canons v Cliffe Crusaders

by Tom Short

A new season, a much changed squad, but the same ambitions for the Canons as they began their season against newly promoted Cliffe Crusaders.  It was a dominant performance in which the Canons ran out 61-19 winners.

Starting fast, it wasn’t long before a classic Mark Stone line break led to an offload to Evan Cook on the 22 metre line and dot down under the posts.  A second try quickly followed from Riley Soutan, before a well worked lineout move allowed hooker Ollie Jeffery to dot down.  Cliffe bounced back from short range before Stone collected a kick through from fly half Kieron Shave to secure the bonus point.

Cliffe started the half strongly with 2 scores of their own either side of a second Cook try, but soon started fatigue, with 4 further Canterbury tries from Oscar Sands (2) Josh Dawson and Freddie Philpott.

With a team consisting of a number of graduating Colts from the last season, there is much to be hopeful about as the team looks towards the rest of the season.