Pratt praises side’s mettle

Andy Pratt admitted Canterbury were below their best in Saturday’s National 2 South win at Worthing, but said the players deserved plaudits for their character. The city club trailed by a point before scoring two tries in quick succession to claim a 34-21 victory and retain second place in the table. The win was their first in eight seasons at Roundstone Lane and head of rugby Pratt said the good points outweighed the bad. He said: “We were below par but we still had enough to win which was pleasing. To score two tries in a 10-minute period when you’re down to 14 men was an excellent effort and it shows the boys are prepared to dig in. “We were pleased we got five points from a place where we rarely achieve that but we also got a reminder that we still need to improve to get back closer to the levels we were at previously.” Canterbury host sixth-placed Redruth at the Marine Travel Ground on Saturday and Pratt admits there is a sense they owe their rivals one after a 14-10 defeat in the West Country in October. He explained: “We felt we had a bit of bad luck in the second half of that game. They got a fairly fortuitous try and we feel we want to show them what we’re capable of.” Canterbury, chasing a 12th consecutive home win, will have two new faces in their matchday squad. Experienced forward Tommy Murray has moved to the club from Ashford and joins fellow newcomer Ben Neville, a utility back, who has come over from Australia.