Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
So close to toppling leaders
In-form Canterbury came close to causing an upset at the home of the unbeaten National 2 South leaders, writes Chris Fullbrook.
The day hadn’t started well for the city club with enforced changes to the side that beat Redruth and then damage to the coach en route, caused by Storm Brian, resulting in a replacement bus completing the journey and a delay to kick-off of 40 minutes.
It was no surprise that the hosts started the better, pressing Canterbury, but stout defensive work and Royce Cadman stealing multiple Taunton line-outs meant it took the hosts 20 minutes to score, NATIONAL LEAGUE 2 SOUTH
PW D L F PA Ps Taunton T’s .... 8 8 0 0 343 126 38 Chinnor ........... 8 7 1 0 273 157 37 Cinderford....... 8 7 0 1 334 169 35 Canterbury ...... 8 6 0 2 223 167 29 Redingensian .. 8 5 0 3 285 216 28 Redruth .......... 8 5 0 3 207 137 25 B St Edmunds . 8 5 0 3 218 201 25 Henley ............ 8 4 1 3 229 263 22 Barnstaple ...... 8 4 0 4 194 228 21 Clifton ............. 8 3 1 4 175 251 17 T’bridge Judd . 8 3 0 5 203 222 16 Worthing ......... 8 2 0 6 192 289 15 London Irish .... 8 2 0 6 219 259 13 Broadstreet ..... 8 1 0 7 186 296 8 Old Redcliffs ... 8 0 1 7 158 324 5 Wimbledon ..... 8 0 0 8 146 280 3 Results: Bury St Edmunds 37 Worthing 30, Redruth 36 Clifton 3, Taunton Titans 19 Canterbury 14, Tonbridge Juddian 15 Cinderford 33, Wimbledon 26 Henley 55, Barnstaple 15 London Irish Wild Geese 6, Broadstreet 21 Chinnor 31, Redingensians 33 Old Redcliffians 26. Fixtures: Clifton v Taunton Titans, Redingensians v Barnstaple, Canterbury v Bury St Edmunds, Chinnor v Old Redcliffians, Cinderford v Broadstreet, Henley v Redruth, London Irish Wild Geese v Wimbledon, Worthing v Tonbridge Juddian.
SHEPHERD NEAME KENT 2 Brockleians ..... 4 4 0 0 159 25 20 Whitstable ...... 4 4 0 0 173 52 20 Lordswood ...... 4 3 0 1 129 27 16 Foots Cray ...... 4 3 0 1 117 63 15 Bexley ............ 4 2 0 2 118 98 10 Askean ........... 4 1 0 3 52 123 6 Greenwich ...... 4 1 0 3 41 77 5 Snowdown...... 4 1 0 3 18 104 5 Faversham...... 4 1 0 3 41 89 4 Dartford Vall.... 4 0 0 4 25 215 0 Results: Askean 21 Bexley 55, Brockleians 57 Snowdown C.W. 0, Dartford Valley 12 Foots Cray 37, Faversham 13 Whitstable 22, Lordswood Greenwich HWO. Fixtures: Bexley v Brockleians, Foots Cray v Faversham, Greenwich v Dartford Valley, Snowdown C.W. v Lordswood, Whitstable v Askean. spinning the ball wide from a scrum for winger Freddie Fraser to go over in the corner.
Their usually kicker Gary Kingdom missed the conversion, but they went further ahead 13 minutes later when centre Tom Popham cut an angle in midfield to dance over, Kingdom converting this time.
Canterbury regrouped and turned the tide just before half-time when good hands Whitstable continued their unblemished start to the season on Saturday with a hard-earned derby win over Faversham in Shepherd Neame Kent 2.
The win was Whitstable’s fifth in a row – four of which have come in the league – although they were given a real test by their neighbours on a day when conditions were far from conducive.
Blues skipper Ben Cliff had said beforehand that he expected a challenging afternoon from the Castaways and he was not disappointed.
He said: “We’ve had a few close games against Faversham and this was no different. The weather certainly did not help, it killed the lineout which was by Aiden Moss and Guy Hilton inspired a try for Dan Smart, converted by Charlie Kingsman.
Two minutes after the break it got even better as the city side stole into the lead, despite now playing into a fierce wind.
They put together several clinical phases before slick handling by flanker Jake Rigby released wing Harry Sayers for the try and Kingsman topped it up with his second conversion to lead 14-12.
Canterbury were now looking the better side but were unfortunate to be reduced to 14 men when Jimmy Green was sin-binned for an alleged high tackle.
Taunton made them pay with a quick not good for us because we’ve worked hard to make it more of an attacking threat for us.
“They had a few attacks in the second half but never really looked like scoring and we always felt we were in control.
“They tired a bit and afterwards their captain said the difference between you and us is that you are welldrilled, you can see you train together.”
Faversham put the first points on the board with an early penalty but Whitstable responded quickly with a try from fly-half Marck Olive.
Will Reid and newcomer Jamie Piggins both also crossed the line before halftime although a mistake by centre Luke Bowers – when he failed to ground the ball behind his own line – let Faversham in for a converted try.
The home side’s only other points came from another penalty while Ben Cliff’s try, this time converted by Andy Huey, ensured the bonus point for the visitors.
Faversham’s cause was not helped by a couple of yellow tap penalty and try by flanker Vatu Vakalutukali, converted by Kingdom, who minutes later failed with a penalty shot which could have sealed the result.
The game was still Canterbury’s for the taking, going into the final stages. However, they could not make the most of a yellow card handed to Taunton’s Aaron Struminski and the home defence somehow held out.
The city side had to be content with a losing bonus point which kept them in the top four. Canterbury: A.moss (repl O.best), B.howard, JJ Murray, C.kingsman, H.sayers, O.best (repl G. Hilton), D.smart (repl K.braithwaite), J.green (repl S.cark), J.otto (repl E.deacon), S.kenny, R.cadman, M.corker, J.rigby, S. Clark (repl A.coooper), M.cantwell. cards but Cliff said while the game was occasionally feisty things never got out of hand.
Tony Cairney marked his return to the side at centre with some excellent defensive work while 18-year-old winger Reid continues to improve in leaps and bounds.
Despite the win Whitstable lost top spot on points difference wto Brockleians who ran out 57-0 winners at home to Snowdown.
The Blues are at home to Askeans on Saturday (3pm) and will be hosting a VP lunch.