Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Pilgrims back in form after horrow show
‘It’s going to be a tough division this season, a lot of clubs have recruited good players’
The Pilgrims made up for a pre-season shocker against Westcombe Park last week with a sound 43-5 victory at Southend Priors, sealed by a convincing second-half performance. They also had the better of the first half but the lack of a telling final pass restricted them to a 12-5 lead at the break. Good work by John Foster and Callum Stuckey made the first try for Dan Harris and a great solo run by Guy Hilton, plus Liam Browne’s conversion, edged them further ahead. But Southend struck back with an unconverted score a minute before the break. It was the last real challenge that the home side mounted as Canterbury quickly took control of the second half when Elliott Deacon raced away to score after three minutes. Hilton’s elusive running brought him two further tries and the best team move of the day, involving Cameron Townley and Ross Comfort, led to a Harry Dance try. Simon Jaynes made the final touchdown and with Browne taking his conversion count to four, the bad memories of the previous week were banished as Pilgrims built confidence for the their debut in the Zoo Shield competition on Saturday. more after we play Cinderford.”
The city club travel to Gloucestershire for the match (3pm) and Pratt added: “It’s going to be a tough game. I’ve played down there and it’s not an easy place to go.
“They have spent a bit of time in National 1 and I’m sure they’ll be keen to bounce back at the first attempt. It’ll be a good test for us, although as always it won’t be until December when we really have a good idea of where we are.
“It’s going to be a tough division. A lot of clubs have recruited a lot of good players and there will be a few hats in the ring for the promotion places.” Pratt claims he National League 2 South: Barnstaple v Old Elthamians, Exmouth v Worthing, Redingensians v Taunton Titans, Barnes v Bishop’s Stortford, Bury St Edmunds v Clifton, Chinnor v London Irish Wild Geese, Cinderford v Canterbury, Redruth v Henley.