Zingari edge thriller in gritty finale

Canterbury 14pts. Old Gravesendians 2nd 12pts.

The Zingari just held on in the dying moments of the game to snatch the win in this fiercely competitive encounter that saw both sides give a display of not only exciting but skillful rugby. From the start, both sides only had attack on their minds with Gravesend having the better of the territory in the opening quarter. This eventually saw them camping on the Canterbury try line before their forwards forced an opening try out wide, and finished it off with a difficult conversion to put them in the lead. As so often happens after a score Gravesend made a poor clearance that was gathered by Rob Horan and run back at them with devastating consequences finishing off with a try near the posts for the simple conversion. Back on level terms, both sides re-engaged before a series of clever offloads opened up the Zingari defence, but the resulting try only delivered the five points with the conversion sliding past the near post to give Gravendians a five-point halftime lead.

The second half saw both sets of forwards struggled to dominate both in the loose and at the set piece, Old Gravesendians holding a slight advantage at the scrums and Canterbury disrupting Gravesendians lineouts neither side looked like they could break free. The breakthrough came as the game entered the last quarter with Gravesendians giving away a series of penalties the Zingari got within striking distance for Henry Collins to force his way over the line, and with Rob Horan slotting the extra points for the conversion secured the slender two-point lead. All to play for as the clock ticked down Gravesendians poured everything into the attack, the city side despite being now a man down through injury raised their game with a heroic display of tackling. With the game now into injury time it was not over with a final Gravesendians attack, ending with a messy scramble on the city line before a boot finally manage to clear the ball into touch, claiming a narrow, but well-deserved win.