Frank Reynolds marked a milestone appearance for Canterbury Rugby Club in style - on and off the pitch - on Saturday.

Fly-half Reynolds brought up his 100th first-team appearance as the side secured a 31-28 National League 2 East win over Henley at Merton Lane.

The boot of Reynolds was critical once more. He made a big effort to play, too, borrowing a farmer friend’s helicopter to return from his sister’s wedding in time for kick-off.

Head coach Matt Corker said: “From his boot, he’s the difference a lot of the time, particularly in such close games.

“There’s no one in the league that has scored as many points as him in the last two seasons.

“He made a big effort to get back for the game. It shows his commitment to the team.

“There were bits of his performance he was disappointed with, but he got up early and travelled to play. I think he still did a really good job.

Report: Canterbury 31-28 Henley

“We’re very lucky to have him.”

It was Canterbury’s first victory against Henley in nearly a decade.

“The weekend wasn’t perfect by any means,” admitted Corker.

“Playing against good teams, you’re never going to have it all your way. But what we have done well in the last couple of games is we’ve learnt how to stay in the arm wrestle.

“This is the first time Canterbury have beaten a Henley side since 2016 although, in the last two games, we had only lost by a point.

“But we got five points and, actually, they were needed because everyone around us seemed to win.”

Corker’s fourth-placed team go into the final month of the season in a good place, having claimed back-to-back wins after a four-match losing run.

“We have won the last couple after a couple of disappointing results,” said the coach. “I’ve talked about how getting control back in games is important, but so is getting control back in our season.

“The way for us to do that is to push hard in our last few games. This weekend off has definitely come at the right time for us.

“We actually already have more wins than we did last season but, if we don’t finish fourth at the end of the season, that’ll be disappointing.”

Canterbury’s tries against Henley came from Frank Morgan (2), Eoin O’Donoghue (2) and Harry Sloan, with Reynolds landing three conversions.

Corker said: “There were some really nice tries.

“What was a real positive - and is something we have put a lot of effort into behind the scenes - is our maul attack.

“We got two tries from it and we perhaps were unlucky not to get another one from it at the end. That’s something we have been working hard on.

“To be a top-four team, you need a good maul attack. One of Henley’s main strengths is their maul attack and we defended that pretty well.

“We just want to get better week on week. It doesn’t matter we’re getting towards April, our aim is still the same.”

Corker also offered his congratulations to Canterbury’s second team, the Pilgrims, who beat hosts Heathfield & Waldron 27-7 last weekend to be crowned Kent 1 champions and earn promotion to Regional 2 South East next season.

“It’s absolutely brilliant,” he said. “It’s quite a similar situation to ours where they have been where they are for such a long time, but you still need to get over the line.

“The players did a really good job against Heathfield & Waldron because they are up there, as well.

“When we have injuries, there’s players that drop down [from the 1sts to gain more match fitness] and second-team players step up.

"It’s really important for us because we need to be playing at a good level away from the first team, that’s really important for our long-term development as a club.

“Their league is a good league, with some strong teams in it. But going up, that will offer even more experience to those players and a chance to get them playing at a level closer to what the first team are playing at.

“So, that’s why it was a really important victory.”