By David Haigh

Head coach Matt Corker was “proud of a great performance” after watching his Canterbury side demolish hosts Old Albanian 54-17 in National League 2 East in an invigorating display of attacking rugby on Saturday.

At a ground where the city club last won six years ago, the seven-try victory also left Corker praising his team's reaction to their disappointing show in the loss to Barnes last time out as they took an iron grip in the first half and never let it slip.

They gave warning with a flying start, building the phases before fly-half Frank Reynolds grabbed the first try and Reynolds showed his well-known accuracy with the boot for a fine conversion.

Albanians took only a minute to find a score of their own, though, as missed tackles ended with an Alex Noot touchdown. But the rest of the half belonged entirely to Canterbury.

An impressive and dominant pack set up the platform for a free-flowing back division and, after Reynolds landed a penalty goal, full-back Kurt Heatherley gathered the restart, set off down the wing and his kick ahead was carried on expertly to the line by Garry Jones.

Reynolds was again on target from wide out, then kept the scoreboard ticking with a second penalty. When an increasingly stretched home side lost a player to a yellow card, Canterbury took full advantage through a catch-and-drive try from Eoin O'Donoghue. The conversion and a third Reynolds penalty goal saw them reach the break with a 30-5 lead but the one box they still had to tick was a bonus-point fourth try.

Two minutes into the second half, they put that right as Reynolds launched his backs again. Jones was given space, scrum-half Tom Williams was there to take the try-scoring pass and Reynolds converted.

Albanians finally found relief as they exploited a yellow card for Tyler Oliver with tries from wing Alex Ricci and hooker Charlie Fleckney and a Sam Jones conversion. But as soon as the No.8 returned Canterbury hit them again with two scores in as many minutes, Heatherley on the overlap and centre Frank Morgan from close range.

The city side's replacements, with young lock Yannick de Mowbray making his debut, made an impact and late on more quick and precise handling opened the way to a final try from Jones. With Reynolds taking a minor knock, skipper Jamie Stephens awarded himself the goal-kicking role and calmly slotted the conversion to round off his team's all-round excellence.

Canterbury, in sixth, are at home to eighth-placed Bury St Edmunds this Saturday.

Canterbury: Heatherley, Jones, Morgan, Waddington, Orris, Reynolds, Williams, Huntley, O'Donoghue, Herriott, Irvine, Stephens, Rogers, Mackenzie, Oliver. Replacements: Cooper, Frostick, De Mowbray, Thomas, Farrance.