By Colin Whiteley
Thanet Wanderers TWRUFC 38 – 0 Canterbury Christchurch College RFC
Thanet gave most of their senior squad a run-out in the game that was played in four 20-minute sections.
The visitors started well and nearly a quarter of an hour had passed before an interception put Harrison Quittenden away to score in the corner for Marius Thompson to make a good conversion. Joint Captain Nick Herbert, soon followed him over the line after a typical shimmy through the visitors’ defence and Thompson made it 14-0.
The second period was ten minutes old when second-row forward, Andy Letts, broke clear after a trade-mark dummy, before handing on to hooker, Kurt Pearson, to touch down. Thompson was again on target and Thanet led 21-0. Two more tries quickly followed from the centres as Adam Harrison crossed after nice handling and Henry Mirams who scored after a loose ball was popped to him scored the fifth try that gave Thanet a 33-0 lead after the second period.
New players were introduced for the second half of the game but there was no score in the third twenty-minute period as defences ruled and Wanderers were guilty of conceding too many penalties.
Christ Church battled hard to score in the final twenty-minute section but the only score was a nice try from Andy Dolan who finished off some sharp handling amongst the backs to give Thanet a 38-0 win.
First team Coach, Kieran Hopper, was in charge of the squad with Head Coach, Elliot Blackmore, unavoidably absent. He commented that the coaches had learnt much from the game where the squad had performed well in a first outing of the season despite the absence of a few of last season’s regulars. The expected opponents, Old Williamsonians, for next week’s second XV pre-season, have withdrawn but there will be a joint training game at Dover for the squad on Thursday evening, starting at 7 PM.
On Sunday 10th of September, Wanderers will hold their annual Community Day when youngsters can investigate if rugby is for them and enjoy some fun activities during the course of the morning. Everyone is welcome to pop in and enjoy a coffee, or something stronger later in the day, and find out about the club’s ambitious plans to improve facilities inside and outside of the clubhouse. The ladies’ first XV will host Canterbury in a pre-season friendly from 2 PM and there will be a Ladies Captains Buffet with the unveiling of the 23-24 honours boards.
The men’s league season starts on the 16th of September with the first XV away at Ashford (3 PM KO) whilst the 2s will be at home to Snowdown and the 3s will host Maidstone 3s. Both kick-off at 3 PM. The first home league match is against Canterbury 2s on ‘Super Saturday’ on the 23rd of September (3 PM KO) when visitors can also watch a walking rugby exhibition and enjoy a beer festival.