The last time we played Canterbury, way back in the 2011-12 season we lost both games by a combined score of 171!.
With Canterbury's only loss coming last week in Guernsey it was going to be another tough ask for the newly promoted Havant.
Will Knight gave three debuts , Eddie Lewis pulling the strings at fly-half with Craig Durnin(2nd row) and Zeki Yesilmen(prop) making the bench.
Glorious October sunshine greeted both team as did Havant Tony's bellowing voice.
A fast start for the home side and a 3-0 lead after just two minutes of play from a penalty in front of the posts.
But Havant are made of sterner stuff these days and after several incursions into the Canterbury half, Stephen Jenkinson found some room out wide for his first try in Havant colour's and the lead at 3-5, with 10 minutes played. Back came Canterbury who's backline was to cause problems most of the afternoon. Scoring their first try on eighteen minutes, the lead changing hands again. 10-5 to the men in gold and black.
Sam Vince was next to score and Havant had their noses back in front on twenty-seven minutes, this time converted by Joel Knight. 10-12 to the blue and white hoops. It certainly was not a one sided contest with Havant giving Canterbury a real game in front of their fans and of course the travelling faithful.
Disappointment for Havant as Canterbury nudged back in front whilst down to thirteen players(two yellows). The backline causing the problems 17-12. Right on halftime and some might say against the run of play Canterbury went in again taking them further away at 24-12.

Half-time Canterbury 24 Havant 12

A blistering start to the 2nd period saw Canterbury extend the lead to 36-12, with the travelling support looking stunned on the sidelines. The score certainly did not reflect what was going on, on the pitch.
Another yellow then a red for Canterbury saw them on the back foot for the remainder of the game, but could Havant punish them.
First a try was ruled out for a forward pass with the faithful celebrating on the sidelines, but Havant were not downhearted back they come putting the pressure on and ever creaking Canterbury pack. Sean Shepherd scored making the score 36-19 surely not game on ?
With five minutes to go Sean Shepherd was in again as the pack and the rolling maul pushed the gold and blacks back. 36-24 bonus point try. Was there going to be enough time?
With the clock in the red and the Canterbury fans calling for fulltime Jack Phillips made a darting move after another excellent run by fullback Ben Griffin. Bonus try time ! but the referee had other ideas chalking this one off for being held up! The noise level went up a notch and the tension palpable. Would Havant get one more chance, they did, Sean Shepherd in again for his hattrick, with the pack doing all the work, this time the conversion was good with the score being 36-31. Two bonus points, a far cry from the two heavy defeats in 2011-12.

Full-time Canterbury 36 Havant 31

Will Knight's thoughts after the game
"While we are disappointed to lose, I have to applaud the effort of the players and the way they responded after last week. There has been a relentless focus on improvement and I saw a lot of that today. We need to get over the line in these close games but to come away from Canterbury with 2 points is still a positive. There is a huge game this week against the league leaders and the boys are excited about the chance to test themselves against the best in the league."