By Chris Fullbrook

A stunning second-half fightback rescued Canterbury’s pride and a National League 2 South East losing bonus point in a 45-35 defeat to title-chasing Barnes.

Trailing by 40 points at half-time Canterbury were a revitalised team after the break as they hit their second-placed hosts with five tries.

Before then, though, the city side were barely off the bus when Barnes scored the first of six tries, the hosts starting their onslaught after only three minutes when second-row Ryan Nixon crashed over from close range.

Handling errors in midfield then allowed Barnes to quickly counter attack with a try from scrum-half Iago Davies under the posts. A regulation catch-and-drive try, finished by hooker Ethan Sikorski, was followed by further first- half touchdowns for full-back Elliot Haydon and another for Sikorski.

With Haydon landing five conversions Canterbury’s prospects of taking anything from the game seemed bleak. However, whatever was said by head coach Matt Corker at half-time awoke his side with hooker Eoin O’Donoghue crashing over five minutes into the second period.

A rare visit into the Canterbury half saw Haydon scoring his second try of the game, but the rest of the action belonged totally to the visitors.

Firstly Ollie Frostick powered over from short range, and then replacement scrum-half Presley Farrance found a gap on the short side from the base of a five-metre scrum.

Canterbury’s second-half dominance continued with flying Dutchman Jesse de Vries taking an offload from skipper Jamie Stephens before beating the home side’s defence with a mazy run from 40 yards. Aaron Cooper completed the tally, diving across the line from a close-range ruck.

The league's leading points scorer, Frank Reynolds, added conversions to all the second-half tries but Canterbury were left to rue errors and a slow start. Their consolation was that bonus point as they stayed fourth in the table.

On Saturday Canterbury are at home to mid-table Old Albanian.

Canterbury: Waddington, Jones, Morgan, Best, Furneaux, Reynolds, Williams, Huntley, O’Donoghue, Frostick, McGovern, Stephens, Thomas, Rogers, Oliver, Replacements: Cooper, Farrance, Moss, De Vries, Kenny.