London One Canterbury 31 Old Albanian 14 OLD Albanian competed fiercely at Canterbury on Saturday but could not stop the hosts recording their ninth consecutive win in London One. Flying full back Gert de Kock opened the scoring for Canterbury inside two

London One Canterbury 31 Old Albanian 14 OLD Albanian competed fiercely at Canterbury on Saturday but could not stop the hosts recording their ninth consecutive win in London One. Flying full back Gert de Kock opened the scoring for Canterbury inside two minutes but OA star Richard Gregg reduced the deficit with a deserved penalty soon after. The home side scored again after taking advantage of a forward pass which was not seen by the officials, and in the 25th minute South African fly half Wessel Wolmarans added a third try. Phil Reid threatened to score for OAs after good support play from Andy Monighan and Paul Mansfield but Canterbury held strong and it was left to Gregg to reduce the deficit to 19-6. In the second half Phil Reid and Russell Osman put together good moves but handling errors cost OAs. Gregg kicked another penalty for OAs but de Kock then went over for his second try for Canterbury and another score increased the lead to 31-9. OAs continued to battle and Reid, again, put his body on the line in leading another attack while the sustained pressure, at last paid off as Gregg dummied his way over the home line. The final score was 31-14 to the champions elect and Canterbury, as fit a side as one will witness outside professional rugby, showed their class throughout. OAs fought well though and in the final quarter were increasingly motivated by sheer willpower as knocks began to tell and not all players appeared to be lasting the pace. Nevertheless a magnificent collective effort prevented any further score from the home side, though the cost of these heroics amounted to an alarming list of walking OA wounded at the final whistle. OAs have a weekend off before they play at home to Worthing, on Saturday, February 11, with a 3pm kick off. For more information on the club see www.oarugby.com OAs: J. Azzopardi, E. Orchard, P. Reid (M. Evans 70), R. Osman, R. Gregg, P. Friel, A. Pearson (E. Thompson 70), G. Botterman, A. Barbieri, D. Bulatovic (R. Tidmarsh 50), J. Pavitt, A. Monighan, P. Mansfield, R. Burr. l The RFUW Six Nations match between England Women and Wales takes centre stage at Woollams on Saturday, with a 5.30pm start.