Confidence dealt a big blow by size of defeat

Captain Martyn Beaumont admitted some Canterbury players ‘ almost gave up’ in their 71-17 hammering at Old Albanians on Saturday.

Overpowered, both physically and technically by promotionchasing Albanians, they will need every minute of their week off this Saturday to get over the shock.

The skipper said said: “We played small spells of decent rugby and we should have come away with a bonus point but for the most part they beasted us.

“We looked good at the start of the second half but we dropped one pretty much on the line and from then on it was disappointing. We almost gave up. It was not what we needed.”

He added: “We need to shake it off before we play Dorking (on March 19) because that is a massive game for both sides.”

The city side, who reached half-time only 11 points behind after edging their way back into the game, were then hammered by an eight-try blast and by the end Albanians were doing much as they pleased as they ripped through a feeble defence.

After their success in Cornwall the previous week, Canterbury went into this game with hopes of earning valuable points despite losing four of that winning side to illness and injury.

They were quickly made to feel the size of their task as Albanians, prompted cleverly by veteran player/ coach James Shanahan, raced into a 21-point lead.

Tries came from Will Johnson (2) and Charlie Hughes, all converted by Mike Gallagher, as Albanians punched holes in midfield and Canterbury gave them every encouragement with a catalogue of unforced errors.

It took an opportunist moment from wing Guy Hilton to get the city side moving, his interception and pace bringing a try seven minutes before half-time.

Tom Best converted and when Albanian skipper Johnson was yellow-carded, Best landed the penalty to raise his side’s hopes further.

A score early in the second half was needed early to give the city side momentum and they made an attacking start, only to ruin it through their own profligacy.

A wild pass was pounced on by the home side and, unlike Canterbury, they were clinical in their use of the ball.

It ended in a try for wing James Spiers and before Johnson returned from the sin bin they claimed another by scrum-half Morgan Thompson. Gallagher’s conversion pushed the lead past 20 points.

Albanians, a club who benefit enormously from their association with Saracens, showed their class as they brushed aside Canterbury defenders with speed, precision and floods of support.

When Canterbury did have the ball they occasionally looked promising but were still too prone to basic errors and a yellow card for prop Jim Green did nothing to restore confidence.

Albanians had cruised to the 45-point mark before they a found a brief response, a break from deep sending Dan Winchester clear.

When the centre’s legs failed him, he threw a bouncing pass to Dan Smart who scored in the corner.

Ollie Best converted from wide out but it was a small gesture as the home side, making the most of their aggression and couple of kind bounces, stacked up the tries.

Spiers and the outstanding Johnson completed hat-tricks, Johannes Lombaard, Nick Foster and Mike Allan joined the list and Gallagher knocked over another four conversions to bury shellshocked Canterbury. Canterbury: O. Best (repl M.rosvall), H.sayers, C.horey, T.best (repl O.best) G.hilton (repl D.winchester), M.beaumont, D.smart, J.green, S.rogers, S.kenny, (repl A.wake-smith), R.cadman (repl R.corr), T.burns, S.nixon, J.shaw (repl N.wakefield), G.micans.