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SECOND HALF SLIPPAGE
CANTERBURY 18 OLD ALBANIAN 21
by David Haigh
A try in the final minute of the game condemned Canterbury to their fourth consecutive defeat as they let a first half lead of eighteen points slip away. It was a sobering experience for a city side that lost its way in a mixture of flawed decisions, basic errors and Albanians domination of the breakdown. The fall from grace frustrated a big crowd who watched Canterbury control the first forty minutes but never do quite enough with all their territory and possession. Head Coach Matt Corker admitted: “We left points out there ” and that hard fact came back to bite them. They started brightly enough and only an unlucky bounce robbed Presley Farrance of a score as he chased Garry Jones’ chip kick. The scrum half made amends for that in the ninth minute after Eoin O’Donoghue launched the initial break, the forwards piled in and Frank Reynolds converted. The city side went looking for more and, despite the loss of Jones with a ham string injury, they were constantly dangerous in the wide channels where debutant Harry Sloan caused Albanians defence all kinds of problems. He was part of the move that sent Harvey Furneaux over for the second try but although Reynolds conversion attempt hit a post he was to prove the only provider of more points before half time. Canterbury had their chances but failed to deliver and relied on the fly half’s two penalty goals. The visitors had hardly been a threat up to that point but all that changed in the opening minute of the second half. A lineout move and a missed tackle saw flanker Archie Radovanovic cross and Patrick Bishop convert. From there Canterbury failed to exploit their strengths, were turned over in possession all too easily and slumped into mediocrity. A punishing break by OA scrum half Bailey Thomas set up his side’s second try, scored by back rower Ben Alexander and converted by Bishop, and a Canterbury struggling to get front foot ball found themselves hanging on. As the clock ticked down they held up one attack over their own line but in the last play Thomas finished off a barrage of pick and go’s as he squeezed over. Bishop kicked his third conversion to remind Canterbury of how far they had fallen.
Canterbury: A.Moss, G.Jones, H.Sloan, W.Waddington, H.Furneaux, F.Reynolds, P.Farrance, O.Frostick, E.O’Donoghue, A.Cooper, J.De Vries, J.Stephens, C.Thomas, S.Rogers, T.Oliver. Replacements: C.Macmillan, H.Kenny, C.McGovern, T.Williams, F.Morgan
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