Canterbury came from behind to claim a thrilling 23-22 win over Chinnor at Merton Lane on Saturday and record their first win in four National 2 South matches.

The city club were indebted to two superb second-half scores from Martyn Beaumont as they hauled themselves out of the drop-zone and moved within striking distance of the top-10, to spark hope, just a week after a crushing defeat at newly-promoted Dorking.

The opening score came when Tom Best launched a beautifully-weighted cross-field kick to wing Mason Rosvall who finished superbly but the visitors took the lead on 17 minutes after a powerful drive from the pack led to fly-half Ed Keohane sending prop Joe Pickett over, with Keohane converting and adding a penalty from distance five minutes later to make it 10-5.

Tom Best slotted the second of two quickfire penalties to reduce the deficit to 10-8 but it was 17-8 at the break after a break from Ryan Ward which looked set to give Canterbury the lead led to a blind-side counter-attack from the hosts which ended with George Blewitt touching down.

The fightback began six minutes after the interval when Aiden Moss freed Beaumont to race 45 metres with a curving run to reduce the deficit, though Best’s conversion attempt hit the post.

The gap was restored to nine points almost immediately as Chinnor lock Toby Salmon charged through, paving the way for Keohane to cross, though the Canterbury reply came just three minutes later when a catch-and-drive gained some territory before Beaumont went over for his second score, with Best adding the extras.

The home pack powered on as the visitors tired and though they could not find a bonus-point try, they did force an offside which allowed Best a straight kick to seal the points late-on.

Their third win of the season left the city club four points ahead of the bottom-two and just nine points outside the top-six in a tight division.