Canterbury (Away)

Many thanks to Canterbury for this match report which is on their web site

A third league victory in a row bought added insurance for Canterbury in their ambition to establish a solid foothold in National League rugby. This was a comfortable ride against a Chinnor side who, even at this stage of the season, are serious relegation candidates. Last year's South West One champions have found it difficult to adjust to the new level and, on Saturday's evidence, it was plain to see why. Canterbury needed to be little more than efficient against a team that lacked penetration and fielded a one-paced pack of forwards. While the city club were never quite at their best they did produce some inspired moments in the second half and a haul of six tries earned them maximum points. Choosing to play into a cold wind Canterbury's objective was to navigate the first 40 minutes safely and thanks to another commanding forward effort, with Rowan O'Gorman and Rob Keir in lively form, they duly arrived in harbour with an eleven-point lead. Two James Reilly penalty goals got the ship under way and Chinnor, who had defended well up to that point, then handed the city club a try on a plate. Having lost hooker Johannes Immelman to the sin bin, they failed to clear a Nicky Woodbridge kick and Gert De Kock seized on the mistake to dive in at the right corner. The wind eased up in the second half, but Canterbury did not.

Five minutes after the re-start the game had been effectively settled as Pat Sykes twice carved through mid-field as Chinnor's defence, previously so secure, melted away. Sykes, seeing defenders drifting to cover his first surge, turned the ball inside for O'Gorman to score. Two minutes later the big centre had no need of help as he strolled through to the posts and Reilly's second conversion made it 25-0 Chinnor could not complain about possession; they had a decent share but their limitations were painfully exposed against an organised defence and a superior pack. Canterbury, on the other hand, always carried a threat Woodbridge's tap and go penalty on half-way produced the best try of the day. The scrum half danced down the left wing past bewildered defenders before giving Mike Melford the perfect off-load. That score, converted by Reilly, came on the hour and the rest of the match, apart from a good solo effort by Chinnor wing Mike O'Mahony in the final minute, belonged to the city club. Replacement Benn Smith was denied a try when he put a foot in touch but Canterbury had plenty in the locker and with 14 minutes remaining hooker Matt Ford was driven over from a maul. The sixth and last touchdown saw De Kock, wrong-footing defenders in typical fashion, race 50 metres to leave David Dorton a simple conversion. Efficiency, plus a little flair, had won the day.