Canterbury made to work hard in final by Combe (From News Shopper)

Canterbury made to work hard in final by Combe

5:00pm Monday 30th April 2012 in Rugby

WESTCOMBE Park made favourites Canterbury work hard for their eventual 22-14 success in the Kent cup final on Sunday, writes Bruce MacKenzie.

Canterbury finally squeezed past a determined and gritty Combe side to clinch the trophy, but throughout were made to work hard for their victory by the Orpington underdogs.

Canterbury enjoyed the better of the forward exchanges and with the wind at their backs for the second half, should have eased away.

But they were denied by a tenacious Combe defence, who hassled and harried all the way.

Combe went in at the interval trailing 12-9 after a trio of Luke Giles penalties kept them in contention, with a penalty try and conversion by Martyn Beaumont and a Peter Kelly try, both from short periods of pressure on the Combe line, just putting their opponents ahead.

Canterbury made use of the elements from the restart but could only fashion points after 15 minutes when sub Paul Brown went over with his first touch of the ball and Beaumont converted.

Undaunted, Combe never let their heads drop and a cross-field kick was collected by Ryan Fuller to score in the corner.

With time running out Combe were pegged back in their own half and with the last kick of the game Beaumont slotted a penalty for Canterbury to complete the scoring.

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