Pratt admits rest will do squad good

Andy Pratt says Canterbury are in need of their first free Saturday since New Year as the gruelling schedule is starting to take its toll. The city club suffered a 47-19 defeat at Chinnor on Saturday which made it 155 points conceded in the past four games and head of rugby Pratt said: “It’s been a long season with a pretty small squad and we are starting to feel the effects of that. “The break has come at a good time for us. We are looking forward to it. We trained on Tuesday and had a bit of a social. “Some of the players will be in on Thursday and might come to watch a game on Saturday but the main thing is to rest.” Canterbury have lost four on the bounce and five of their last six and Pratt said: “It has been a tough run, particularly with the Bishop’s Stortford game being rearranged (on their previous scheduled bye week).” They return to action with the visit of Redingensians to the Marine Travel Ground on Saturday week and Pratt said: “We need to be honest with ourselves and we’ve said this, we know we have let our standards slip. “It’s up to us to put that right in our final five games that follow the break. They are important for us to show we are not content to let the season drift away. “We need to finish well, partly because we want to look back at the 2016/17 season and remember it well. “We’ve enjoyed some great moments this season but also because we want to build some momentum to take into next season.” Canterbury are five points adrift of Redingensians and six ahead of Clifton in ninth but Pratt said: “We are sat in eighth at the moment but want to push on – seventh is the first target. We have been stuck on 64 points for a long time.”

Andy Pratt