The long wait for a morale boosting win was ended by a Canterbury side who rediscovered their buzz and energy as they ran in five tries to claim maximum league points.

Despite this result they are still lurking in the bottom three of the National 2 South table but the positive way they went about defeating Shelford suggests that brighter days may not be far off.

The only down side to this second league victory of the season was that two players were added to the city club’s chronic injury list, with lock Tom Burns carried off with a suspected leg fracture and prop Alex Wake-Smith ending with a damaged hand.

If that took some of the shine off an entertaining match it could not quell Canterbury’s bubbling display, Apart from a brief period early in the game they were always in front and having mastered the wind and slope a ten point half time lead established them as clear favourites.

Shelford’s control of possession after the break temporarily stalled that momentum but in the final quarter the city side rattled up another seventeen points to put the result beyond any doubt.

Early indications were that the visitors traditional forward strengths would need containing and after Ollie Best posted the first points with a penalty goal Shelford’s scrumagers made their mark. A penalty won led to a try for sharp scrum half Charlie Baker, converted by half back partner Steve Smith.

They relied on Smith’s boot for their only other points of the half but by that time Canterbury had struck three times. Scrum half Dan Smart, enjoying his best game of the season, put his team in pole postion with a great break which was halted just short of the line. They did not miss out.

The pressure brought skipper Tom Sherson two tries from lineout catch and drive moves and saw Shelford crumble as first flanker Jason Billows and then lock John Hall were sent to the sin bin.

Hall’s dimissal was then punished by an assured city back division as Martyn Beaumont and Alex Veale fashioned a lovely try for wing Mason Rosvall which pushed the score to 20 -7.

Smith, who was off target with two earlier penalty attempts, cut three points of that lead at the end of the half and on the resumption the visitors had in mind the great comeback they made in a recent game at Clifton.

Clever and efficent ball control put Canterbury’s to the test and when prop Ruairi McLeod became a yellow card holder Shelford took advantage with a try wide out by lock Marius Andrajauskis.

Once that period had been weathered, however, the city side came roaring back into the game as the pack hammered over the gain line with frequency and purpose. A defensive error allowed George Micans, outstanding at Number Eight, to swoop for Canterbury’s bonus point try and McLeod soon followd him from close quarters for the fifth.

Sandwiched between those scores was an Ollie Best penalty goal, won by a increasingly dominant scrum, and only a marginal forward pass denied the fly half the chance to add to his three conversions as the backs provided a final fourish. Shelford’s late, late response, a try for Miles Anderson converted by Smith, was reward for their perserverance but it could not earn them the consolation of losing bonus point.

Canterbury: M.Beaumont, A,Moss, A.Veale (repl T.Best), C.Wallace-Sims, O.Best, D.Smart (repl G.Kay), R.McLeod (repl S.Kenny), N.Wakefield (repl T.Collins), A.Wake-Smith (repl R.McLeod), R.Cadman, T.Burns (repl R.Corr), T.Sherson, R.Ward, G.Micans.