Frustrated Canterbury Rugby Club head coach Andy Pratt can’t decide if his glass is half-full or half-empty after coming so close to upsetting the National 2 South leaders.

Pratt’s early-season strugglers stormed 26-0 ahead against unbeaten Henley Hawks on Saturday but slipped to a 30-29 defeat in the dying moments at Merton Lane.

The performance gave hope that the city club could yet compete with the division’s top sides as they did last season but it also represented the second straight weekend they had failed to finish off a game when ahead, following the draw at Dings Crusaders.

Pratt admitted: “It was similar to the previous week and we can take a good deal of positives from them both.

“We made a blistering start and got ourselves into a position where we should have won but they are a good side and we gave them a way back into the game.

“Rugby is a momentum game. We had it but then we handed it back to them. If you do that with a side of the quality of Henley, they can keep it for a long period of time.”

The result left the city club 12th but bonus points put them within striking difference of a return to the top-half, though with a daunting trip to Dorking on Saturday (2pm).

Pratt said: “It all depends on how you look at things, whether you’re an optimist or a pessimist, if your glass is half-full or half-empty.

“We’ve taken 10 points from our last three games, having only taken seven from the six we’d played before that, so that’s great but when you look back at the games, it could so easily have been 15 points and include a win over the leaders. In that respect it is frustrating.”