Coach Danny Vaughan admits Canterbury Rugby Club have found themselves in a winner-takes-all showdown with Westcombe Park on Saturday that they had desperately wanted to avoid.

Canterbury’s poor run in National 2 South, with only three wins since the turn of the year, combined with Combe’s late-season revival, means that the final league game between the Kent rivals at Merton Lane has turned into a relegation dogfight with the losers heading to National 3 London and South East.

"We definitely didn’t want it to end this way," admitted Vaughan. "But with the way things have gone in the past few weeks, with Combe picking up some surprise wins, it was almost as if it was destined to happen."

Westcombe Park have been in the bottom three relegation zone virtually all season but, with Canterbury losing 25-12 at Clifton last Saturday, the Orpington club moved to within two points of Vaughan’s side with their 19-17 success over Worthing, their fifth win in their last nine matches.

Vaughan added: "It’s now a winner-takes-all situation and there are going to be a lot of nerves out there on Saturday. The team that keeps their heads the best will probably come out on top.

"Combe will think they have the momentum running their way and they will come to our place with their chests sticking out, but we have just got to produce the sort of performance that we are capable of, and if we do we will be okay.

"We know that there will be no second chances after Saturday, and as a club we obviously don’t want to take a backward step."