Head coach Matt Corker is warning Canterbury Rugby Club’s players not to get ahead of themselves after a landmark away win on Saturday.

The city club earned a second consecutive National League 2 East victory, triumphing 22-17 at Henley Hawks - their first success in south Oxfordshire for six years.

It’s another sign of how Canterbury have progressed into one of the better teams in the division but Corker is refusing to get carried away, ahead of this Saturday’s home match against Westcombe Park.

“It was a real achievement,” said Corker. “It’s something we can be extremely proud of.

“My challenge to the players is, if we want to take that next step, we need to be doing things we have never done before. We showed how far we have come with our maul defence.

“We had quite a lot of handling errors, which is uncharacteristic of us, and that made it slightly harder than it could have been. But it’s a really pleasing result.

“Everyone is excited about what the season could hold for us, although it’s important we don’t get ahead of ourselves.

“If you start to look at the horizon, you can miss what’s in front of you.

“We have got another tough game against Westcombe Park this weekend. That’s always a competitive game against a local rival.

“There’s still things we’re really focused on to take our game to the next level, but our game has really grown.”

Among Canterbury’s tries was Mo Pangarker. The utility forward joined in 2023 but has been plagued by injury since.

The former Medway player is fit and firing now, though.

Corker said: “He came to us and had a great pre-season but that break he got in his foot is every player’s worst nightmare.

“There were definitely fears he wouldn’t be able to take to the field again.

“He’s contributing a lot. From our perspective, seeing a lad enjoying his rugby again, that’s fantastic.

“He’s also a great lad and a big part of our side.

"It’s great to have him back.”

Flanker Ryley Thomas, who earned praise alongside back Will Waddington, also dotted down alongside hooker Eoin O’Donoghue while the boot of fly-half Frank Reynolds proved key.

On Reynolds, Corker, who lost centre Harry Sloan to a late yellow card, said: “We try very hard not to take Frank for granted.

“He does a lot of work away from the club. He does make a difference in those tight games.

“As the season goes on, I expect there will be even more games like that. I’m really pleased for Frank.

“He wasn’t happy with his performances in the first few games, he wanted to put a good game on tape, and he definitely did that.

“Frank kicked well from his hands, as well as the tee, on Saturday.

"We’re really lucky to have him.”

Weekend visitors Westcombe Park have suffered two straight losses since an opening-day triumph.

Those defeats have only been by a combined total of three points, however, as they were edged out 27-26 at Sevenoaks last weekend.

Corker said: “Their loss at the weekend came to a last-minute try.

“It’s a very tight league this year with some very strong teams.

"There’s real overall quality from week-to-week - I know Old Albanians got a big score [thrashing Guernsey 87-17 at home] at the weekend - but that was a bit of an anomaly.

“We’re definitely going to try and back up our performance from Saturday because we know it’s going to take our very best.”