Kent were unable to take advantage of their late reprieve when they slumped to a 37-0 defeat against rampant Hampshire in the semi-finals of the County Championship on Saturday.

Danny Vaughan’s side scraped through to the last four as best runners-up despite an 18-0 reverse in their final pool match against East Midlands.

But Hampshire, who have now scored 199 points without conceding a single point at the other end, were simply too good.

“To be quite honest we were out-classed,” said Vaughan who is also Canterbury head coach. “Hampshire were top class in every area and although I tried to beef things up in terms of personnel it was never enough and they thoroughly deserved to win.”

Kent actually enjoyed quite an even, scoreless first 20 minutes, before some loose kicking let in Hampshire to score two tries in quick succession before the break.

“We were guilty of some pretty aimless kicking and against opposition of that quality you get punished,” added Vaughan, who was also disgruntled at a lack of players available.

“We had a pretty solid opening but overall it was disappointing. It’s not nice to get to this stage and not be able to field your strongest side.

“I think if I could have fielded the team I wanted to we could have given them a real game.”