More on KentOnline
Home Canterbury Sport Article
Head coach Matt Corker is excited at the prospect of seeing Canterbury Rugby Club play on an artificial surface on Saturday.
The city club begin a run of three straight away games at Havant before their rearranged trip to Worthing on Saturday, February 1, and an encounter at Westcombe Park seven days later.
Canterbury sit fourth in National League 2 East and, although Havant are some way further back in 10th, they have seen off Sevenoaks, Old Albanians and Worthing at Fraser Road this season, as well as only losing 39-31 to pacesetters Tonbridge Juddians in October.
On a run of three away fixtures, Corker said: “It’s a challenge we’re looking forward to.
“What’s important for us is, if we can past the test of the next three weeks, you really are into the business end of the season. I won’t minimise the fact it will be difficult.
“But we have got some very exciting games, starting against Havant. We don’t look too far ahead.
“Havant have pushed a lot of teams close and had some really good results at home so we’re not underestimating the challenge.
“Us going down there and playing on their artificial pitch, that’s something I’m looking forward to. We actually haven’t had a game on one of them for a while, but we train on one every Tuesday and it’s something the boys really enjoy.
“So, we’re looking forward to seeing how we react to a really good pitch.”
Canterbury play on grass at Merton Lane, but train on Simon Langton’s 4G surface.
Corker said: “It suits our brand of rugby. We want to move the ball and we want to play fast.
“Obviously when you have got a perfect playing surface, that’s going to support that sort of rugby. Havant play on it week in, week out, and train on it, too, so they’ll be very familiar.
“I think that’s going to be a very interesting part of the contest.”
A monstrous defensive display inspired Canterbury to last weekend’s 24-15 home triumph over Guernsey - the team immediately below them.
“It was just a huge defensive performance,” said Corker, whose team had back-rower Tyler Oliver yellow-carded early in the second half.
“We made 179 tackles, which is an incredible amount!
“They had a lot more possession than us so there’s some things for us to work on in terms of controlling the ball. But there were just some fantastic defensive sets.
"I think our maul defence won us the game, especially at the back-end where we kept them out.
“It was all heart from the boys. We talk about what’s behind the try-line, what we’re defending and the boys really showed that for 80 minutes.
“We weren’t up to our normal standards with the ball in hand but, with that being said, we scored three great tries.
“They were really well-executed and I’m confident that we would score those tries against anyone, as well. That was the level of them.
“When you go into these top-of-the-table clashes, that’s the sort of standard you have to hit.”
Australian winger Garry Jones bagged a brace against the islanders, having missed last month’s 35-22 derby win over Sevenoaks.
“Garry missed the Sevenoaks game because he took the opportunity to go home and see his family,” Corker explained. “He’s come back refreshed and raring to go, and it was a great performance from Garry.
“It was really good to have him back.”
The other Canterbury try came from flanker Harvey Furneaux, with fly-half - and new father - Frank Reynolds coming up trumps.
Corker said: “We never take Frank for granted and what he’s bringing.
“It takes a lot of effort from him on a weekly basis to continue to perform at a high level.
"I don’t think he’ll mind me sharing that he and his partner had their first baby just before Christmas, as well, and that can be very disruptive. But he just keeps performing for us week in, week out.
“He’s super committed to the group. As vice-captain as well, he contributes a great deal to our performances.
“It’s great and I think he’s loving it. I think he’s enjoying the progress he’s making, person-ally, because he also just continues to get better all the time.
“That’s something, as a team, we massively benefit from.”