Zingari triumph in a physical contest

Canterbury 37 – 17 Ashford Barbarians

This was a physical contest from the outset with both sets of forwards trying to dominate, while the Barbarians held the upper hand at the set piece the Zingari had the advantage in the loose. This led to Canterbury’s first try with Toby Allen picking off a ball on the outside with a straight dash to the line. Next up was Brad Allchurch showing what he could do from close range with a tackle breaking charge to go over out wide. Ashford reply was swift, their forwards building pressure before they found a gap in the city defence to claim back a try with a charge from short range. With twenty minutes on the clock Canterbury now entered a purple patch, keeping the ball alive running everything, even from deep in their own half began to pay dividends, First Joe Rumsey out stripping the defence ran the ball behind the posts for the city’s only conversion courtesy of Brad Allchurch. This was followed by Will Rayner jinking his way round his would-be tacklers to touch down, and on the stroke of half time Jerome Weigh was on hand to burrow his way over to give the Zingari a well-earned half time cushion.

The second half saw the Barbarians trying to keep the ball tight that paid dividends with an early try, only to be thwarted when the city pounced on a loose ball and set off down field to be finished off with Connor Langley making a scything run over the line. Ashford Barbarians kept to their game plan bringing them success after concerted forward pressure on the city line rewarded them with a converted try. The city now had to endure more of the same, and set themselves into defensive mode with some heroic tackling and scramble defence that proved enough to hold their line. As the game went into the closing minutes, and deep in defence the Zingari manage to secure a loose ball sending it wide to Toby Allen, who then turned the defender before cutting back inside to win the sprint to the lime cementing the Zingari win.

Tries

Toby Allen 2
Jerome Weigh 1
Joe Rumsey 1
Will Rayner 1
Brad Allchurch 1
Connor Langley 1

Conversions

Brad Allchurch 1