Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Wasted opportunity
CANTERBURY ARE LEFT TO RUE MISSED CHANCES AS THEY SLUMP TO A DISAPPOINTING AWAY DEFEAT CHINNOR CANTERBURY 31
AFTER the euphoria of the previous week, this result was a major disappointment for a wasteful Canterbury side.
They created enough chances to have been comfortably ahead by half-time but instead found themselves two points behind and were punished for their second-half errors.
Chinnor, on the other hand, grabbed their opportunities smartly, accepted a couple of gifts and while the final scoreline hardly reflected the game, their efficiency and opportunism gave them the spoils in an entertaining contest.
Injury and availability problems forced the city club into making seven changes to the squad which upset Hartpury College but the disruption was hardly noticed as they controlled possession and territory for much of the first 40 minutes.
Scott Browne and Chinnor’s Henry Colver exchanged early penalties but it was the home side who exploited their first attacking opportunity, centre Matt Goode rounding off a period of pressure with a sidestep to score, which Colver converted.
From that point, Canterbury were in charge, stoking up attacks with some spirited driving from the pack, winning turnovers and making three clean-line breaks which, on any other day, would have brought tries.
Browne, Neil Wakefield and Martyn Beaumont all breached Chinnor’s defences but the clinical finish was missing. The city side’s dominance eventual l y brought a try for Beaumont after Chinnor’s defence was stretched by the backs but those missed chances returned to haunt them. They were undone six minutes after the restart by a more determined Chinnor.
A ball lost in contact put them on the back foot and fly-half Will Millett steamed in for a try which left Colver with an easy conversion.
A swift and necessary reply came from scrum-half Dave Marshall who rewarded his forwards efforts by slipping through a gap for a try which Browne converted to leave the game wide open again.
Not content with that, the city club were soon back on the attack only to see their work come to grief.
Chinnor turned over ball in their own half, in highly dubious circumstances and it ended with second row man Dave Hughes being given an easy run in for his side’s third touchdown.
Errors and indecision now crept into Canterbury’s performance and, despite a second penalty goal from Browne, a sloppy pass handed Millett the easiest of interceptions to secure a bonus point try which Goode converted.
There were positives for the under-strength city club, among them the arrival from the replacements’ bench of George Micans – his first appearance after a sevenmonth injury lay-off – and the work of Sam Rogers who swapped hooking duties for open-side flanker. Canterbury: Beaumont, Mackintosh, DevlinJones, Del Val, Povel ( repl Obisesan), Browne ( repl Little), Marshall, Green, ( repl Livesey), Wakefield, McLeod ( repl Pinnick), Massey ( repl Micans), Hinkins, Sherson, Rogers, Liston