Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Digging deep for victory
CANTERBURY PRODUCE DETERMINED DEFENSIVE DISPLAY TO BRING AN END TO FIVE-MATCH LOSING SEQUENCE
penalty and almost paid the price.
They lost control of the ball, Exmouth kicked to within five metres of the city line and only great defensive lineout skills saved them before the break.
Having missed that opportunity, Exmouth took the early second half initiative but Canterbury’s tenacious tacklers were not for breaking.
They absorbed the pressure and the Smart/best partnership handled the exit strategies with aplomb. It was from one of those moments, a hanging kick out of defence by Best, that led to the city side’s decisive second try. JJ Murray chased, claimed possession with a superbly timed leap and Exmouth made a panicky handling error.
Smart was on the scene to kick, chase and score, leaving Best another easy conversion and the Devon men 14 points behind.
Exmouth needed the score that had eluded them to stay in contention and they finally managed it though a stolen scrum ball which allowed George Billings to power over for the try.
But they were given nothing else and while Canterbury had the final eleven minutes to negotiate, they did not sit back. The excellent city forwards picked and drove effectively before their attack was given width.
Wing Kieran Thompson made a break, the ball was kept alive and Murray found space and pace to race over for the third and conclusive try. Canterbury: J.jones (repl W.hilton), K.braithwaite, JJ Murray,w. Farris (repl F.morgan), K.thompson, T.best, D.smart, A.coooper (repl (C.townley), S.rogers, S.kenny, (repl J.green), R.cadman, G.edwards (repl L.woodbridge), G.micans, H.mccormick-houston, M.cantwell.
After only one game in five weeks, the Pilgrims could not shake off the rust as they went down 41-12 at home to Wimbledon 2nds.
Most of the damage was done in the first half when they conceded 29 points as Wimbledon, riding high in the Zoo Shield, ran in five tries with injuries to Elliot Deacon and James Shaw further hindering the Canterbury cause.
The second half started much better for the home side before injury struck again, this time losing centre Jon Gallagher.
But Pilgrims got on the scoreboard through Nathan Taylor’s powerful, driving try and Liam Browne’s conversion.
There was another near miss from a revived Canterbury before Simon Jaynes grabbed an opportunist try.
The injury toll grew, reducing Pilgrims to 14 in the closing minutes and Wimbledon took full advantage with two more tries.
The 3rds won 72- 5 against East Peckham to avenge a shock defeat in the away fixture earlier in the season and preserve their unbeaten Premier East home record.
They flew out of the blocks and overran the visitors with 12 tries. Despite that, Canterbury did not have things entirely their own way with East Peckham scoring an unconverted try of their own just before half-time. The city side’s tries were scored by Brad Allchurch (4), Michael Smith (3), Ollie Jaynes (2), Ben Waite, Ollie Simpson and Jake Upward while Scott Payne added six conversion.