Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Honesty is key to success
Canterbury’s honesty will be a big weapon as they bid to get their season going.
The city club suffered a second narrow defeat in National 2 South last weekend - losing 29-21 to Old Albanians after leading at halftime.
They’re hoping it will be third time lucky this Saturday when they host a Worthing side who arrive at Merton Lane with two wins out of two.
“We work hard and we’re very honest with each other,” said coach Matt Corker. “That’s a big part of who we are.
“We know where want to be come the end of the season and there’s plenty of rugby in front of us.
“By being honest with each other, it helps us to understand what needs to be fixed.
“Without that, it’s hard to know which way is up and where to direct your attention.”
The Worthing match is the featured game on a new National League rugby highlights show online.
There’s no better time to put on a performance.
Corker said: “Worthing have been in this league a long time, they’re a great club, with a great history, and they’ve had a fantastic start.
“They’ll be coming here full of confidence and we have to meet the physical challenge head on.
“That will be a massive part of the game and we want to put on a performance to thank the home fans for supporting us through a difficult 18 months.
“It’s important to get a win under our belts.”
Canterbury played well at times against Albanians but carelessness cost them victory.
Twice they took the lead with well-worked tries - Tom Williams and Kyan Braithwaite the scorers - only to allow Albanians to claim the restarts and swiftly rub out their advantage.
Tristan King scored Canterbury’s final try, with Frank Reynolds adding his third conversion.
They had chances to win but the final pass eluded them.
“It was very frustrating,” said Corker. “We’re still moving forward in terms of our execution and taking chances.
“I’m really happy with the volume we’re creating but the volume we’re finishing is well below where it needs to be.
“To be leading at half-time and come away with no points is very disappointing. We’re talking finalpass stuff - we’re very close to where we want to be.
“We moved some things forward, so there were positives, but we need to take those last couple of steps and they can be the hardest ones.”