This was a positive start to the New Year for Canterbury as a sixth victory of the season in this basement battle lifted them out of the relegation zone.

Once again, however, the city side missed out on a bonus point but Tom Best’s accuracy with the boot kept them in the lead throughout the second half.

Five penalty goals and a conversion added up to a personal haul of seventeen points for Best on his return from a five week absence.

Canterbury were in control for much of the game so will be disappointed that the visitors outscored them by three tries to two and, in the process, earned a losing bonus point in the last minute of the match.

A spirited and intelligent first half from the city side, who dominated possession, won turnovers and carried effectively, laid the foundations. Redingensians, making their first ever appearance at the Marine Travel Ground, failed to appreciate the benefits of having wind and slope and paid a price.

They were hammered unmercifully on the penalty count, fell behind to a Harry Sayers try and two Best kicks and had to settle for ending the half on level terms.

Martyn Beaumont made the break for Canterbury’s converted try after twelve minutes, Best and Luke Flower exchanged penalty goals and, late in the half, Flower converted a touchdown by Tom Vooght. The equalising points for Redingensians came when an undermanned home scrum was driven back following a yellow card for prop Jim Green.

It was job almost done for the city side, a view reinforced when centre Will Farris powered away to score just three minutes after the restart. Best had his one failure of the day with the conversion attempt but quickly added a penalty goal before small doubts began to creep in.

Redingensians got a foothold when the city side failed to deal with a restart and Flower made the running for a try by wing George Drury. The match then developed into a battle of the boot as the city side’s attacking momentum deserted them and they were guilty of poor decision making. Still, Best was eager to make the most of the visitors technical shortcomings and another three penalty goals, against one from Flower, saw the game go into stoppage time withCanterbury nine points to the good.

When the visitors came with a late flourish they were resisted expertly but the good work was wasted by a questionable decision to run the ball from under the posts. Result – player tackled and isolated, penalty awarded and a rumble which produced a point winning try for Robbie Stapley. Not enough to spoil Canterbury’s joy at a second successive victory but it did rub off a little of the shine.

Canterbury: A.Moss, H.Sayers, W.Farris, T.Best, M.Rosvall, M.Beaumont, D.Smart, J.Green (repl C.Townley), T.Rogers, (repl N.Wakefield), A.Wake-Smith, T.Burns, R.Cadman (repl S,Rogers), M.Cantwell (repl R.Cadman), S.Nixon, G.Micans