Canterbury Rugby Club's weekend defeat has left them with plenty to work on ahead of a fixture-free Saturday.

Early errors proved costly at Merton Lane in their National League 2 East 22-13 loss to Barnes.

They return to action with a trip to mid-table Old Albanian on Saturday, November 9, after an enforced break from action.

Head coach Matt Corker, whose team failed to score a point in the second period, reflected: “It was really disappointing.

“Not so much the result because Barnes are a good team but, from an attacking perspective, we just left so many points out there. We created a lot of opportunities that we didn’t finish.

“If I look at the first eight-game block, our line-out has actually generally been strong and we have scored some brilliant tries, but that wasn’t the case on Saturday.

“When these better teams come to our place, we need to make sure we’re ready for the game.

Report: Barnes 22-13 Canterbury

“That makes it sound like we were not prepared - which isn’t the case. I do think the players prepared well.

“The most important thing from losing is learning and there’s some clear things to work on in the next few weeks.

“But it’s a disappointing lesson to have to learn, I cannot deny that.”

Barnes stole the game’s first line-out and won a penalty, which led to the first try after only three minutes.

Canterbury conceded twice more from driving mauls - the second of which was illegally stopped on the line, leading to a penalty try - to leave winger Alfie Orris’ try and a conversion, alongside two penalties from fly-half Frank Reynolds, in vain.

“The big disappointment is Barnes didn’t have to do a great deal,” Corker conceded.

“They scored three tries in the first 20 minutes and a penalty in the second half. There’s things we need to work on with that.

“The ability of the group is definitely there.

“But it’s a little bit like fixing leaks, you cannot fix two leaks and leave two open.

“We need to put it all together.”

The omens had not looked good for Canterbury even before kick-off when centre Frank Morgan was injured in the pre-match warm-up, forcing a hasty reshuffle.

Corker said: “A player with Frank’s ability and experience is always going to be a miss.

“All credit to the players with how they adapted to that.

“We have got players that can play in multiple positions - like Garry Jones, who stepped in as No.13 - but you’re always going to miss big players.”

While Canterbury had some tired bodies as their first eight-match block of the campaign ended, Corker refused to use that as an excuse.

“It’s important for us not to complain about that,” he explained. “It’s the same for everybody else.

“This is a very talented group that we have got. The rest will definitely be a welcome one.

“But it’s not fatigue that cost us on Saturday - it was our performance.

“We can be very targeted about what we plan to work on and we will try to get the players to take that step forward. Having a week off, we can focus on things in a different way.

“With the Pilgrims losing as well for the first time this season, we will be quite a disappointed group at training this week.

“It’s important that we pick ourselves up because there’s a lot of rugby still to play this season. We’re not far off.”

Corker did, however, sense a different atmosphere following the sixth-placed side’s loss to Barnes - only their third league defeat of the season - compared to last campaign when they came seventh.

He said: “It feels different.

"Last year, we felt like we could have won a game like Saturday whereas we now feel like we should have won. That’s no disrespect to Barnes because they’re a hard team to beat.

“But, when we look back at our own performance, we fell a long way short.”

After an extensive first block of games this term, Canterbury’s next block will be a much shorter one before they have another rest in late November.

“Now, the league gets into a routine where we regularly play three games and then have a week off so the breaks are becoming much more common,” added Corker.

“For now, it’s about how we respond after a week off and then, if we finish off with a win before our next week off, it becomes about how we can carry that momentum through.”