Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Scoreline only half story
INJURY-HIT CANTERBURY SIDE SHOW BOTH DETERMINATION AND ENTERPRISE AGAINST HIGH-FLYING HOSTS
Canterbury always knew that this game with high- flying Chinnor would be tough, having narrowly beaten the title contenders at the Marine Travel Ground back in November.
Unfortunately, since that time, injuries have taken their toll on the Canterbury backs with players stepping up from the Pilgrims to shore up the defence.
It was this defence that was a positive factor for the city side who stood firm to upset and frustrate a physical home team who have benefited from key additions to their playing strength since that last meeting.
Canterbury had to defend their lines during the opening quarter and any early relief from Chinnor pressure was often squandered by mistakes.
However, it was the city club who opened the scoring with a break from defence by Jonathan Jones and an offload to scrum half Kyan Braithwaite who in turn released Kieran Thompson for a try converted by Tom Best.
A reply came minutes later with Chinnor capitalising on a strong run from winger Henry Lamont.
He was bundled into touch but a lineout that went wrong and a Chinnor scrum saw their No.8 Alastair Bone crash over from the base.
Lamont, with a clever run, set up Luke Peters who put his side ahead on 22 minutes with a try converted by Jon Bentley and it was a lead they never lost.
Canterbury had their chances but before half- time, prop Jay Tyak had gone over and Bentley’s conversion made it 19-7 at the break.
Neither side fully took control in the early stages of the second half but a resilient city club defence was eventually broken by centre Charles Broughton’s try .
With Tom Best injured in the build-up and having lost Guy Hilton midway through the first half, the Canterbury back line was reshuffled with Jamie Dowkes making his debut.
Despite the enforced changes it wasn’t until the final quarter that the home side secured the win with further tries from Dan Barnes and the experienced Bentley during a period when Canterbury’s Jimmy Green was sin-binned for a technical offence.
When they were restored to ful l numbers, thei r never- say- die attitude saw replacement Glynn Edwards cross from a catch-and-drive line out, converted by Will Hilton.
A further converted Chinnor try ended the home side’s scoring but it was Canterbury back row Max Cantwell, playing in the unaccustomed position of centre, who had the last word.
He collected a deft chip kick to cross the Chinnor line but a bonus-point fourth try eluded a city side who were far from outclassed. Canterbury: J.jones, G.hilton (repl W.hilton), F.morgan, W.farris, (repl L.woodbridge),k.thompson, (rep S.rogers), T.best (repl J.dowkes), K.braithwaite, A.cooper, C.townley, S.keny, L.woodbridge (rep G.edwards), R.cadman, M.cantwell, S.rogers (repl H.mccormick-houston), G.micans.
Canterbury 3rds started brightly at home to Folkestone 2nds and, having established supremacy in both the line-out and scrum, set about putting the game beyond doubt by half-time.
Folkestone played their part, but could not cope with the free- flowing rugby being played by their l ivel y hosts.
The city side crossed five times in a dominant first-half performance and added three conversions, although they did not have things entirely their own way as Folkestone scored an unconverted try with the final play.
Michael Smith, Elliott Deacon, Brad Allchurch, Jake Upward and Sam Payne got the hosts’ tries however after the turn around, with Canterbury pushing to extend their 31-5 lead, the game was brought to a premature end following a serious ankle injury to Canterbury prop Ashley Humphrey-smith.