Canterbury returned to winning ways in National 2 South with a crucial 31-14 bonus-point win over bottom side Dings Crusaders at Merton Lane on Saturday.

The battling win, which came on the back of a dominant second-half showing, took the city club 10 points clear of the bottom-three with eight games remaining, though the next two are against the top-two.

Canterbury made a good start and took the lead with an Aiden Moss try, however Dings responded with a performance which belied their league status and put the city club on the back foot, with Martyn Beaumont having to make a last-ditch tackle to stop centre Chris Gervais from scoring after a Canterbury handling error.

The leveller did eventually arrive however with full back Callum Sheedy intercepting Charlie Harding’s pass to race to the line, though the hosts did snatch the lead moments before the break when Ricky Mackintosh smashed through a gap, and though he was brought down just short of the line, Harding was in support to cross to make it 12-7.

The lead extended to 12 points two minutes into the second-half as a resurgent Canterbury piled forward and swept the ball left for Mason Rosvall to cut through with an angled run and tear to the line for his 14th try of the season.

Tom Best slotted his second conversion, and despite losing Moss and hooker Tom Rogers to injury, the city club battled on and Sam Rogers secured the bonus point after Dings were punished for ill-discipline.

The visitors did reduce the 24-7 deficit with hooker Dave Wheeler crossing, with Mark Woodrom adding his second conversion, but eight minutes from time Jimmy Green marked his first appearance of the season with a try, and despite Rogers and Adam Cathcart being sin-binned before the close, the visitors could not take advantage.