Barnes batter visitors in stunning first half show

By MICHAEL WHITFIELD

Barnes…………….37pts Canterbury……..26pts

No stopping Canterbury No. 7 Cameron Murray

PICTURES: Jonathan Knight

Replacement scrum half James Crabtree eludes No. 9 Ben Cooper to score for Barnes

A superb first-half performance from Barnes laid the foundations for a solid victory over Canterbury.

Barnes dominated large tranches of this game and the contest was effectively over by halftime as the home side scored four tries to Canterbury's one.

It was a complete performance from the green and gold, with few errors or penalties given away.

Barnes stated their intent almost from the kick off, attacking at pace through the midfield and Rory Kassapian slicing through the Canterbury defence to score under the posts with only one minute on the clock. Simon Keller converted.

Canterbury came back hard at Barnes, the home side defending two attacking scrums before they exited well, turning defence into a series of attacking mauls in the Canterbury half, from which Simon Keller scored and then converted to extend the lead to 14-0.

At this point, Barnes were controlling the game with ease, setting up attack after attack in the opposition 22. Keller slotted penalties in the 21st and 24th minutes to put them in total charge at 20-0 ahead.

A Barnes error at the lineout allowed Canterbury to get their first points on the board af- ter 31 minutes, Cameron Murray scoring.

The home side were not finished scoring in the first half, though.

From the restart, the electric Jordan Souter chose a delicious line to cut through the Canterbury defence to score an outstanding solo try after 33 minutes.

With Keller off the pitch being patched up, skipper Josh Davies slotted a conversion from out wide and Barnes led 27-5 at the break.

The hosts put the game beyond Canterbury when Cameron Roberts scythed through the defence before throwing a long pass out to Will Lewin, who continued his excellent season of scoring with another try in the 46th minute.

Unsurprisingly, the intensity from Barnes dropped off and, to their credit, Canterbury huffed and puffed and broke down the Barnes door several times. Ben Cooper went over in the 64th minute, with Reynolds adding the conversion.

Barnes saved their best until last and from a scrum 20 metres out, the forwards edged towards the Canterbury line before scrum-half James Crabtree dotted the ball down in the 67th minute and the hosts were out of sight at 37-10.

As the home side understandably took their foot off the gas, Canterbury carried on looking for more points.

The visitors scored two consolation tries to earn a losing bonus point.

Eion Donoghue went over first with most of the Canterbury side joining a catch-and-drive to push him over the line in the 76th minute. Reynolds converted.

Then, from a dubious high-tackle penalty, hooker Nathan Morris went over on full-time to make the final score 37-26 – ascore that did not accurately reflect the dominance of the home side.