By David Haigh

National League 2 East leaders Tonbridge Juddians gave Canterbury an impressive demonstration of accuracy and finishing power as they marched to a 46-23 win in the derby clash at Merton Lane.

Judds built a winning platform in the first half, held off a spirited challenge in the third quarter and then closed out the game decisively with three tries in the final 10 minutes.

An early lead for the city side, from a Frank Reynolds penalty goal, was quickly wiped out by a hat-trick of tries by Juddians hooker Will Colling, all of them coming directly or indirectly from catch and drives as Canterbury paid the price of conceding penalties.

Their troubles were compounded by injuries to full-back Kurt Heatherley and wing Harvey Young, which meant a reshuflle of the back division, but after Colling had struck twice and the conversions failed, Reynolds kept them in touch with two further penalty goals.

When Juddians pounced again with a third try, spreading the ball from a driving maul before Colling barrelled over, the kick was again off target but two minutes before the break they worked a bonus-point score for prolific wing Curtis Barnes and their first successful conversion opened a 22-9 lead.

It was, however, a newly-energised Canterbury that emerged for the second half to put Juddians under sustained pressure. It brought them a try through Frank Morgan's powerful finish and Reynolds’ conversion narrowed the gap to six points.

But for all the territory they occupied and pressure applied in this dominant period the city side could not turn it into further scores. Handling errors were the chief culprit against an aggressive visiting defence and a Connor Lloyd penalty goal for TJs disrupted the flow.

Canterbury could not be faulted for effort but they faded and were ruthlessly exposed in the closing stages. A break in midfield left Howard Packman a straight run in, Lloyd spotted acres of space on the blind side of a maul to hand Barnes his second try and, as Canterbury gamely tried to attack, Charlie Self intercepted Reynolds’ pass to charge in for the seventh touchdown.

Lloyd converted all of them but there was a last-minute consolation for the hosts when Sam Rogers, who worked tirelessly all day, forced his way over and Reynolds’ conversion ended a contest in which the title chasers were, unmistakably, the better side.

Both sides have a free week before returning to action on March 1. Canterbury visit second-placed Barnes and Judds are away at fifth-spot Westcombe Park.

Canterbury: Heatherley, Jones, Morgan, Waddington, Young, Reynolds, Williams, Huntley, O’Donoghue, Herriott, McGovern, Stephens, Thomas, Rogers, Oliver. Replacements: Best, Furneaux, Cooper, Frostick, De Vries.