Canterbury Rugby Club head coach Matt Corker hoping to learn lessons from run of defeats and get his side firing on all cylinders again
Published: 05:00, 01 March 2024
Head coach Matt Corker is determined to get to the bottom of Canterbury’s dip in form.
The city club have suffered three successive defeats in National League 2 East for the first time this season.
Their latest loss came at Westcombe Park on Saturday where they went down 27-14 having led by nine points at half-time.
Corker’s side, who are eighth in the table, have a weekend off before returning to action at home to bottom club North Walsham on March 9.
The break gives them a chance to iron out a few issues.
“It’s been a tough couple of weeks for us,” said Corker. “We’ve lost three on the spin and last weekend was very disappointing.
“It’s important we dive into especially this last performance to get an understanding of why things aren’t working as we want them to.
“At half-time we were in a good position. We weren’t perfect but we looked very controlled away from home in a big local derby and then to come out in the second half and not score a point was a massive turnaround.
“We wanted to show what we’re about and to not be anywhere near the team we believe we are was frustrating.
“Losing is always painful but it’s a complete waste if we don’t learn from our mistakes.
“We must do that going into a really important block of games after our weekend off. We’ve got three big games coming up and we need to be getting points from every single game.”
Canterbury were in fine form before Christmas, reeling off four successive wins.
They’ve shown what they’re capable of and will be working on the training ground to rediscover their touch.
Corker said: “In terms of our own confidence and knowing what we’re good at and how we score tries, it’s what’s the easiest way to score? What’s the best way to score tries?
“It’s important we get back to where we were before Christmas and how we used our strengths.
“It’s easy when you don’t win to say these things but if we control the ball better, that’s probably our Achilles heel at the moment.
“When you’re giving the ball away after one or two phases, you don’t get a chance to apply pressure and that’s something we’ll be looking at.
“It’s the first time we’ve lost three in a row. We won four in a row before Christmas and that’s the form we want to get back because we know we are capable of that consistency of performance.
“It’s important for me we understand what we’re good at and what our strengths are to get back to winning ways.
“With the weekend off, we can rest a few injuries and do quite a deep review and also have a bit of a rest in a long season.
“It’s something that’s definitely going to help us.”
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Craig Tucker