Two late Wim Baars tries failed to mask a poor Canterbury performance as they crashed to a 31-17 defeat at Taunton Titans on Saturday in what was their last away game of the season.

Taunton led through Gary Kingdom’s converted try before three more tries in 10 minutes left the city club facing a 28-point deficit.

Luke Plummer went over twice and Jemba Bull also touched down, with Kingdom converting each try to leave the Somerset side in complete command.

A try from David Devlin-Jones got Canterbury on the scoreboard but Kingdom’s penalty edged the Titans further in front.

Only in the closing stages did Canterbury come to life, with Baars seizing his opportunities from line-outs to register two consolation scores. Scott Browne added one conversion.

The defeat leaves Canterbury eighth in National 2 South with only home games against Launceston and Bournemouth to come.