Canterbury battled back to record a thrilling 23-20 win over London Irish Wild Geese on Saturday and enhance their National 2 South promotion credentials.

The city club needed a Tom Best penalty two minutes from time to secure victory against the side second-bottom in the table and stay fourth, now nine points behind leaders Hartpury who lost at Redruth.

The amateur side of the Premiership club dominated the scrums early-on and earned a penalty from which Oscar Thomas put them ahead, but the city club took the lead with a try from their first real chance nine minutes in when Ricky Mackintosh finished superbly after a fine backs move, with Best adding the conversion for a 7-3 advantage.

The visitors aggressive defence kept Canterbury at bay and it was the Geese who re-took the lead through a Jerry Cronin try before wing Fraser Carlise intercepted a pass and raced 60 metres to touch down, with Thomas converting both scores for a 17-7 lead inside 20 minutes.

Before the break Rob Lennox was held-up over the line but Best did kick a penalty to reduce the gap before the break.

After the break Canterbury produced improved scrummaging and defence and it proved the foundation of their turnaround, after Irish were penalised, the hosts took advantage of an attacking lineout for a catch-and-drive try for flanker Brook Cowan, with Best’s conversion levelling the score just before the hour.

Irish battled back but staunch defence limited them to a Thomas penalty, and with Best levelling from another kick moments later, it was 20-20 going into the dying moments.

A last-ditch surge from the city club saw the visitors penalised for hanging on to a tackled player for too long infront of their posts, allowing Best to slot over the match-winner and fifth win in six games.