National 2 South
Taunton Titans 23, Canterbury 22

TAUNTON Titans clung on by their fingernails to beat fellow early season contenders Canterbury, for a fourth win from five games this season.

Both teams went into Saturday's match at the Commsplus Stadium with three wins on the board, and what followed was an intriguing battle.

READ MORE: Taunton Titans v Canterbury as it happened

After a scrappy opening to the match, visiting fly-half Harvey Young had the first scoring opportunity, only to drag his penalty wide, a mistake not to be repeated by Gary Kingdom at the other end.

Kingdom added his second penalty on the half-hour to put his side 6-0 ahead, but then had a hand in the turning point which saw Canterbury lead at half time.

Kingdom's penalty kick for touch was overcooked, and the visitors attacked off the back of the scrum, with Aiden Moss breaking and putting a grubber kick through for Jonathan Murray to go over.

With Young nailing the conversion, the hosts trailed by a point going into the interval, but they found an instant response upon the resumption.

Patient play led to Freddie Fraser making good ground and passing wide; the ball seemed to have been lost, but Jamie Fleming recovered it, and the referee gave the try after checking there was no knock-on.

They then extended their lead to 16-7 when a good move off the lineout saw the forwards rumble towards the line, and Jarrard Hayler - who had earlier made a superb try-saving tackle - scored the try.

There was a delay for an injury to Fraser - the centre being stretchered off - and that was followed by another try for the visitors, as slick play led to Dan Smart breaking forward and finding Charlie Grimes to dive over.

The score was unconverted, and 10 minutes later the Titans seemed to have put the game to bed with a converted try at the other end, man of the match Ratu Vakalutukali thundering through a gap and showing enough strength to cross the line despite a covering tackle.

But Taunton put their coaches and the home fans through the ringer in the last 10 minutes, their lead trimmed to 23-17 by a try in the corner from Ollie Best - but it went unconverted as the quickly-taken drop-kick missed.

The hosts were then stunned in the last minute as scrum-half Smart streaked away down the left from a lineout, but Young's conversion dropped wide, so the Titans secured victory by a single point.

Next Saturday sees them travel to London Irish Wild Geese; then, on October 13, they host Henley Hawks.

Taunton Titans: Connor Baker, Chris Francis, Sonny Haines, Brett Harvey, Milo Reynolds, Ratu Vakalutukali, Jarrard Hayler, Sam Prior; Jacob Nash, Toby East, Freddie Fraser, Nick Mason (c), Oscar Kolowski, Ollie Rice, Gary Kingdom.
Replacements: Sam Williams, Isaac Dalton, Corry Teague, Jamie Fleming, Lewis Webb.