by Steve Uglow

Canterbury travelled to Worthing with some optimism as their hosts, relegated from National 1, had started the season with two successive defeats.

But the South Coast side showed that those losses were just a morning-after hangover as they produced an all-round performance which left Canterbury playing catch-up from the third minute.

Only in the final ten minutes did the travelling faithful start cheering as the city side grabbed a fourth try and a bonus point to give a measure of respectability in the scoreline

Initially it was the Worthing kicking game that created problems for the city defence. A box kick from scrum half and man of the match, Callum Waters, was re-gathered by Worthing and skipper Rob Smith powered over from a ruck close to the line. Canterbury replied quickly with a penalty from Guy Hilton but in the 12th minute, another box kick led to a further try for prop, Dan Sargent as Worthing stretched their lead to 14-3.

The Canterbury defence was at full stretch but relief came with an interception by winger, Connor Wallace-Sims, who went the length of the field to score. On the half hour mark, Canterbury produced another long range effort, a superb try by Ollie Best who broke down the right, linked with Aiden Moss and took the return pass to reduce the Worthing lead to 17-13.

Strong driving mauls by the Canterbury pack were encouraging but the Worthing scrum and lineout held up well and it was the hosts who were dominating possession and territory. The city defence battled hard but the threat was always present and a missed tackle led to a try for winger, Alex Nielsen, and the hosts led 22-13 at half time.

Worthing produced their most effective rugby in the third quarter, constantly pressing Canterbury back into their own 22 metre zone. The city side found difficulty in clearing their lines through the boot and often created problems for themselves by trying to run the ball out of trouble.
Waters, creator of tries in the first ten minutes, turned poacher, nipping over from a line-out on the 50 minute mark.

Ten minutes later, the same player was denied a second try, pulled down just short of the Canterbury line but made amends as he darted over from the resulting scrum. Full back McLean, who kicked four conversions and a penalty, put Canterbury a daunting 36-13 in arrears.

The fight-back in the last ten minutes was heartening. Three successive penalties in the Worthing red zone led to prop, Storer, being sin-binned. Canterbury pounced immediately, moving the ball wide for Aiden Moss to score. Within five minutes, Canterbury were within striking distance – an initial bullocking run by Number Eight George Micans, led to a break by replacement scrum half, Grant Kay. He timed his pass to centre Mason Rosvall who scored in the right corner and Best’s conversion reduced the arrears to eleven.

The last few minutes had an element of chaos as both sides threw the ball around with abandon and mistakes proliferated. A storming run by winger Milo Tonry-Brown had the Canterbury spectators cheering and in the final seconds a break and kick ahead by centre Alex Veale made a second bonus point seem possible. But the bounce of the ball took it into touch rather than into the hands of Wallace-Sims and Canterbury had to be satisfied with a single point.