Canterbury 30 Leicester Lions 27

Saturday 16th October 2021

League Points 5-2

Canterbury 30: Tries: Will McColl (17), Tristan King (30), Aiden Moss (53, 78), Frank Reynolds (80); Conversions: Frank Reynolds (18); Penalties: Frank Reynolds (47);

Leicester Lions 27: Tries: Alex WilHuckleberryson (36), Oli Taylor (44, 59), Jake Sterland (72);
Conversions: Ben Young (37, 45); Drop Goals: Ben Young (6);

Last minute try by Canterbury gives them a thrilling late win against Lions.

The Autumn weather and dry pitch was again just the conditions for open running rugby. Lions started the scoreboard moving with a drop goal by Ben Young on 6 mins.

Strong forward play by Canterbury allowed prop Will McColl to drive over the line for a try after 17 mins, with Frank Reynolds adding the conversion.

On 30 mins Canterbury hooker, Tristan King, went over in the corner for an unconverted try, taking the score to 12-3.

On 36 mins a scything run through the middle by Lions’ fullback Alex WilHuckleberryson gave Lions their first try of the afternoon, with Ben Young adding the extras.

Half-Time: Canterbury 12 Leicester Lions 10

Lions took the lead just after the break with hooker Oli Taylor going over for a try and Young adding the conversion. This was quickly followed by Reynolds kicking a penalty for Canterbury, closing the score to 15-17.

On 53 mins Canterbury reclaimed the lead with Aiden Moss going over for a try, making the score 20-17.

Lions had a purple patch puncturing the Canterbury defence with Taylor scoring his second try of the afternoon, to be followed by Lions’ winger Jake Sterland adding a try on 72 mins, taking the score to 20-27, with Lions having a chance to close out the game.

But the turn of events did not work out that way. On 78 mins Moss added his second try of the afternoon, but it was not converted, taking the score to a nail biting 25-27.
In the final minutes of the game Reynolds scored Canterbury’s fifth and final try of the afternoon, putting Canterbury back in the lead at 30-27, and taking victory on an afternoon where the lead bounced to and fro throughout the game.

Final Score: Canterbury 30 Leicester Lions 27

A close result, with the lead changing throughout the game. It was obviously a great disappointment to the Lions players when two tries were conceded in the last five minutes.

A fluent try scoring afternoon – nine tries in total – five to Canterbury, four to Lions.

Head coach Gareth Collins commented: ‘‘We were really poor first half and simply cannot make that many handling errors and expect to win at this level. Having said that we addressed some issues at half time and controlled the game for 35 minutes of the second half. Having got ourselves in a winning position to let it slip the way we did was inexcusable. It’s a tough one to take but the players are hurting and therefore will hopefully learn from it. If we are going to achieve the goals we have set ourselves we must be able to see out games like that. We go again next week and we try and put it right.’’

Oli Taylor is currently the top try scorer in National League 2 South, with 8 tries. Ben Young is in tenth position in the points scored table with 51 points.

Next week, on Saturday 23rd October 2021, Lions play league leaders Worthing, at Westleigh Park, Blaby, with a 2.00 pm kick off. This will complete a testing start for the season, when Lions will have played the current top five teams in the league.

Teams – Order 15-9, 1-8, 16-20
Canterbury: Kyan Braithwaite, Frank Morgan, Will Waddington, Tom Best, Tom Williams, Frank Reynolds, Ben Cooper, Will McColl, Tristan King, Danny Harriott, Sam Churchyard, James Stephens, Will Hunt, Sam Rogers, Tyler Oliver
Replacements: Guy Hilton, Aaron Cooper, Jesse De Vries, Aiden Moss, Elliot Lusher
Leicester Lions: Alex WilHuckleberryson, Jake Sterland, Luke Veebel, Joe Brock, Devon Constant, Ben Young, James Stubbs, George Taylor-Walker, Oli Taylor, Isaac Thompson, Ollie Tapscott, Toby Hutchinson, Simon Johnson, Jonny Murdoch, Nick Cairns
Replacements: Calum Harris, Shaun Murray, Dan Martin, Alex Smit, James Hare