Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Rugby pledge Club ‘owe fans’ a strong home performance
CANTERBURY SEEKING TO AGAIN MAKE MERTON LANE A FORTRESS
Andy Pratt says Canterbury Rugby Club owe a strong home performance to their fans as they seek to restore Merton Lane’s reputation as a daunting away trip.
The city club were humbled 39-17 in their opener by Cinderford two weeks ago and lost three of their final four home games at the back-end of last season.
After a morale-boosting derby win at Tonbridge Juddians on Saturday, Canterbury will be eyeing back-to-back wins as they welcome Coventry side Broadstreet – switched from National 3 Midlands this season – at the Marine Travel Ground on Saturday (3pm).
Pratt said: “We don’t know much about them but we’ll do our homework. We are capable of putting a run of results together, particularly at home.
“We want to get back to Canterbury having a reputation as a hard place to go. We’ve probably lost that a little bit as we’ve not really put in a top performance at home this calendar year.”
In their opening two games, Canterbury have excelled before half-time and struggled after it.
Pratt said: “I was pleased with the win on Saturday. It’s a derby and that is always a bit special.
“It was a strange game, we did well in the first half but the opposite in the second.
“They are a capable side and we did well to take pretty much all our chances in the first half. But then we were careless with the ball and kept handing them gifts.
“Hopefully, it is not a pattern emerging, maybe it is a focus or a game management issue. We’ll resolve it.”
Skipper Max Cantwell vowed to get to the bottom of the contrast in fortunes either side of the break and said: “It’s been two games of two halves so far.
“We’ve done well in both first halves but then fallen apart. I don’t know what it is,
‘Our most prominent target was to finish in the top-five’
whether it’s concentration or our mentality but we will sort it out.
“We had a team meeting before the start of the season and our most prominent target was to finish in the top-five. If we are to do that then we have got to be competing against the sides aiming for the top one or two spots, especially at home.
“Cinderford are clearly looking to try and get back to National 1 this season. We more than matched them for 40 minutes, which is a positive but we have got work to do.”