Canterbury coach Matt Corker was pleased to see some of their defensive work come to the fore at the weekend.

It’s an area that Corker felt had been holding them back and has been one they’ve been working hard at improving. The city side got their National League 2 East season under way with a 53-13 victory over league newcomers Colchester.

Canterbury ran in seven tries to get their season off to an encouraging start.

Corker said: “You always want to start with a win and it was a pretty big scoreline.

“Colchester are new to the league and it’s hard to know what to expect from them, but you could see a change in our defence from last season and that is what we were looking for, a step forward in that area.

“I have had to learn how to coach it a bit better as well but I think that has really helped us. Last season our attack was really pushing us towards where we want to go but the defence was holding us back. I don’t want the same kind of conversations at the end of this season.

“We are really happy with that and [it’s] something we have to keep pushing. We are not satisfied, but we can see the progress which is what we want.

“I think we controlled the game really well. It was certainly our best game taking pre-season friendlies into account.

“We’ve definitely seen some green shoots for us moving forward and we know Colchester are probably still adjusting to the level and away at Sevenoaks this week will probably be another step up.

“We know we can’t stand still, we have to keep pushing forward.”

Canterbury dominated in all areas last Saturday and took control with Cameron Macmillan’s converted catch-and-drive try and two Frank Reynolds penalty goals.

Last season’s top league points scorer Reynolds got off to an impressive start with 18 points in the match, converting six of the seven tries scored.

Aiden Moss and Garry Jones scored converted tries before half-time for a 27-3 lead.

Canterbury continued to punish Colchester in the second half with hooker Eoin O’Donoghue crossing the line twice.

Frank Morgan got try number six and Tom Williams’ individual effort, which started in his own half, rounded things off.

Corker is now looking for an overdue win at Sevenoaks this Saturday.

“These local derbies are always big games,” he said.

“We haven’t won their in the last two seasons. Last season we only lost by a point (losing 23-22 last season and 26-17 the year before that) which was really disappointing and so our focus is making sure we leave this time much happier with our performance.

“We’ve still got things to work on, there are always things that need more work, but those things we’re working on are definitely coming through.”